tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/asylum-seekers-682/articlesAsylum seekers – The Conversation2019-03-13T00:42:44Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1133522019-03-13T00:42:44Z2019-03-13T00:42:44ZIn Manus, theatre delivers home truths that can't be dodged<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263297/original/file-20190312-86678-1ym8xp1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Iranian theatre company Verbatim Theatre Group performed Manus as part of this year&#39;s Adelaide Festival.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mohammad Sadeq Zarjouyan</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Review: Manus, Adelaide Festival, March 8</em></p>
<hr>
<p>How to review a play whose relationship with matters of fact is so serious and politically culpable it overwhelms the critical distinctions that might normally be used to judge it? </p>
<p>Where is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislavski%27s_system">Stanislavski</a>’s “magic if” (if I were a refugee locked up for six years by the Australian government …)? What are the “given circumstances” (near-drowning at sea, a sun-beaten island at the end of the earth)? Or the “inciting incident” (political oppression, military destruction, despair on an epic scale)? </p>
<p>We might ask is the narrative balanced? Does the piece make appropriate use of contemporary staging techniques in portraying, say, how a 23-year old refugee set himself on fire, or a group of teenage youths sewed their lips together? </p>
<p>Is it well-shaped dramaturgically? Is the flow of events satisfying to an audience expecting a good night out at the theatre? Or is it too much for those affronted by the horror, the inhumanity, the endless hell of it all? How will Australians in particular cope, given that we are the ones responsible for building that hell and setting its cycle of torment in motion?</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263296/original/file-20190312-86693-1jhzqc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263296/original/file-20190312-86693-1jhzqc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263296/original/file-20190312-86693-1jhzqc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263296/original/file-20190312-86693-1jhzqc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263296/original/file-20190312-86693-1jhzqc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263296/original/file-20190312-86693-1jhzqc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263296/original/file-20190312-86693-1jhzqc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263296/original/file-20190312-86693-1jhzqc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In Manus, actors perform verbatim interviews with Iranian asylum seekers on Manus Island and Nauru.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">James Elsby</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/events/manus/">Manus</a>, as the title will suggest to most, but especially Australian audiences, is a drama presenting the stories of eight refugees from Iran who sailed to this country in 2013, just after the passing of the Coalition government’s <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2013L02166/Explanatory%20Statement/Text">Operation Sovereign Borders legislation</a>. </p>
<p>Apropos the new zero-tolerance approach to marine-arriving asylum seekers, they and hundreds of others were mandatorily detained at Manus or Nauru Regional Processing Centres for five years or more. There they faced limited resettlement options, and an explicit commitment to never allow them entry into Australia, regardless of whether they were found to be “genuine” refugees or not.</p>
<p>The first half hour of this 90-minute show by Iranian company Verbatim Theatre Group explores the background of the characters – who are not characters, of course, but men and women with names, faces, families and fates, just like you and me – and the reasons they chose to leave their home. </p>
<p>These are as various as you’d expect, and fall into the category of the credible. Their journey takes them via Indonesia, into the Arafura and Timor seas, where they hit storms and rough waters, their flimsy vessel breaks apart, and they nearly drown. </p>
<h2>Harrowing narrative</h2>
<p>Just in abbreviated form, delivered with the slight means at the disposal of a small company from Tehran – two dozen red petrol cans, some projections and a rain effect – this section of the narrative is harrowing.</p>
<p>It’s a ghastly journey even when undertaken with adequate food, water and equipment, which are frequently absent. Rescue comes from a British naval vessel and the Iranians are asked where they want to go. They say Australia.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263285/original/file-20190312-86686-jcmmrj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263285/original/file-20190312-86686-jcmmrj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263285/original/file-20190312-86686-jcmmrj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263285/original/file-20190312-86686-jcmmrj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263285/original/file-20190312-86686-jcmmrj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263285/original/file-20190312-86686-jcmmrj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263285/original/file-20190312-86686-jcmmrj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263285/original/file-20190312-86686-jcmmrj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The first part of the show is dedicated to the life stories of the people portrayed in the play.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">James Elsby</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>There are sharply divided opinions in this country about what director Nazanin Sahamizadeh describes in the program note as: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>a world in which every three seconds one person is forced to flee home … to seek safety, security or simply a better life in peace and freedom. Tragedy in our time shows its ugly face when the borders are closed rather than open to these women, men, girls and boys.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It is not hard to imagine her view being strongly contested: the argument put that opening our borders only encourages people-smugglers, for example, thus more dangerous maritime crossings, and thus more deaths at sea. It is also possible to question the social impact of large-scale migration (though <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1617/Quick_Guides/MigrationStatistics">Australia’s in-take</a> is not especially large) and a global order where, in the words of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/sep/20/migrants-refugees-asylum-seekers-21st-century-trend">academic Alexander Betts </a>“refugees and displacement are likely to become a defining issue of the 21st century”.</p>
<p>But beyond the general debate we find, in legal parlance, a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bright-line_rule">bright-line</a>. The last two-thirds of Manus narrate how the eight Iranian detainees fared in their tiny island prisons, and the neglect, abuse, humiliation, indifference, and, to our ever-lasting shame, outright violence and cruelty they were subject to. </p>
<p>In this, the main body of the play, we hear the voices and accounts of those who saw the <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/the-truth-or-not-about-manus-island-riot">2014 riots</a> on the island close-up, because, unlike the Australian politicians glibly sure of their judgements later, they actually witnessed them. </p>
<p>The deaths, injuries and hunger-strikes that followed were peaks in a sine wave of misery that ground down the asylum seekers through repeated acts of petty tyranny. The play describes this through the voices of the actors: food delivered late or not at all; latrines limited in number and broken; electricity cut off in the middle of the night; telephone calls restricted. </p>
<p>On and on and on it goes: a stream of organisational meanness as deliberate, ingenious and grim as any that can be found in Dante’s Inferno. </p>
<p>It is one thing to refuse entry to people who claim asylum in Australia on the grounds their entry is illegal. It is another to treat them in the way we have, subjecting them to prolonged and aggravated incarceration for no criminal offence, dragging Australia’s reputation into the slime, where it will no doubt remain for some time to come, and deservedly so.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263284/original/file-20190312-86686-1dfsk2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263284/original/file-20190312-86686-1dfsk2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263284/original/file-20190312-86686-1dfsk2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263284/original/file-20190312-86686-1dfsk2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263284/original/file-20190312-86686-1dfsk2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263284/original/file-20190312-86686-1dfsk2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263284/original/file-20190312-86686-1dfsk2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263284/original/file-20190312-86686-1dfsk2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Manus is delivered entirely in Persian.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">James Elsby</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>An imperfect show</h2>
<p>Manus is not a perfect show. It is hard to imagine how such a panorama of human misery could be condensed into 90 minutes of stage action.</p>
<p>Within the verbatim theatre model there is a tension between emotional authenticity and documentary accuracy. Delivered entirely in Persian, with English surtitles, Manus leans toward the first, with the result that sometimes details blur and it is difficult to judge the scale and effects of a given event. News footage, projected onto the bodies of the performers themselves, is used to boost atmosphere rather than to communicate precise chronology.</p>
<p>But this does nothing to rob the drama of its impact in the Australian context. In fact, the opposite: the show’s imperfections only point up the evil perpetrations we have let slither by us, as an electorate, like a venomous snake. Theatre has a trick of banging-out home truths in ways that can’t be dodged, even with our nation’s studied mastery of the toad-arts of moral evasion. </p>
<p>I left the venue feeling numbed, drained and profoundly confronted. What was I doing while all of this was happening? While these refugees, normal people, neither better nor worse than myself, were having their lives excoriated by devils, large and small, in my name? What were we all, as supposedly good Australians, thinking? </p>
<p>Not even God can change the past, the Spanish say. We have infinite time ahead of us to answer such questions, and contemplate the void they have opened up in our national soul.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/113352/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julian Meyrick does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>This verbatim drama presenting the stories of eight Iranian asylum seekers detained on their island prisons delivers uncomfortable home truths.Julian Meyrick, Professor of Creative Arts, Flinders UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1104822019-03-07T13:07:20Z2019-03-07T13:07:20ZMigrants granted bail left trapped in British immigration detention because of nowhere to go<p>Britain’s already Kafkaesque immigration detention system has reached new heights as it’s become clear that migrants who’ve successfully challenged their immigration detention are remaining incarcerated, simply for want of somewhere else to stay. </p>
<p>In 2018, a series of ostensibly obscure tweaks were made to the mechanisms for accessing public accommodation. Before the changes, people held in immigration detention centres who applied for bail but had no friends or family to live with on release, could apply for publicly-funded accommodation. </p>
<p>But under provisions introduced in 2018, the scope for obtaining accommodation shrank dramatically, in a climate of public housing austerity and hostile immigration policy. This has created an appalling situation where people remain trapped in detention despite being given bail. </p>
<p>In a ruling in early February 2019, a high court judge acknowledged that the bail accommodation system had been <a href="https://www.freemovement.org.uk/high-court-bail-accommodation-system-not-working/">shown “not to work”</a>. </p>
<p>Administrative incarceration is supposed to be only used for people whose removal is imminent and where there are strong legal grounds for depriving them of their liberty – not for accommodating people. The consequences of this erosion of the right to liberty are a real cause for concern for anyone who cares about human rights and social exclusion in contemporary Britain.</p>
<h2>Nowhere to go</h2>
<p>Examples of people who have fallen victim to the changes are abundant. One NGO worker detailed the case of Yusuf*, a failed asylum seeker from central Asia with acute mental health issues. After being detained for three months, Yusuf was granted bail by a judge but had no address that he could be released to. When he phoned to apply for Home Office accommodation he was told that, since he was in detention, he didn’t qualify, as he was not currently destitute. </p>
<p>With the NGO worker’s help, Yusuf filled in a long form for asylum support. In this case, the Home Office did officially grant him accommodation, indicating that he was considered a priority because he was recognised as a vulnerable person. But no actual physical address was found for him to be released to until the Home Office was ordered to find one following a successful judicial review – almost three months after he was granted bail. </p>
<p>Although the Home Office is only supposed to detain somebody in immigration detention when it can remove them within a “reasonable period”, it’s unclear what reasonable actually means. There is currently no time limit on immigration detention in the UK, despite <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/dec/05/immigration-minister-caroline-nokes-listens-to-calls-to-end-indefinite-detention">ongoing campaigning</a> to introduce one. Many people <a href="https://barcouncil.org.uk/media/623583/171130_injustice_in_immigration_detention_dr_anna_lindley.pdf">cannot be removed</a> promptly due to legal or logistical barriers – for example if they have an outstanding legal claim to remain in the UK on asylum or other human rights grounds, or if they don’t have the necessary travel documents. </p>
<p>Since 2015, annual government data consistently shows that <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-year-ending-september-2018/how-many-people-are-detained-or-returned">more than half</a> of those held in immigration detention were eventually released from detention, rather than removed from the UK. Detainees can be released on <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/application-for-secretary-of-state-immigration-bail">immigration bail</a> by the secretary of state or by a judge of what’s called the first tier tribunal. Tribunal bail, despite <a href="https://bailobs.org/resources/">various deficiencies</a>, remains a key route to release. </p>
<p>Tribunal judges <a href="https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/bail-guidance-2018-final.pdf">expect</a> people to have a “stable address” if released on bail, though the person is no longer automatically required to live at the address, as long as they can be reliably contacted there. </p>
<p>A problem arises when bail applicants don’t have friends or family able to host them. Since January 2018, the new bail regime now makes it much harder for people to secure public accommodation from inside detention. Asylum seekers and refused asylum seekers can still apply, using a cumbersome <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/application-for-asylum-support-form-asf1">35-page application form.</a> Currently, such applications are often being refused, with the <a href="http://www.biduk.org/resources/76-bid-briefing-on-post-detention-accommodation">government arguing</a> that people in detention fail the “destitution test”, which requires them to demonstrate that they are destitute or likely to become destitute within 14 days. </p>
<p>In June 2018, the charity Bail for Immigration Detainees (BID) <a href="https://www.biduk.org/resources/76-bid-briefing-on-post-detention-accommodation">reported about</a> the case of an asylum seeker detained for ten months, who had obtained conditional bail with a residence condition. On applying for accommodation, the person was told that in the detention centre: “Your essential living needs, including accommodation, are being met in full.” The person was later told that administrative detention is: “Not dissimilar to emergency accommodation with lack of liberty being the main difference.” </p>
<p>The situation is even worse for those who have not made an asylum application, but may have other family-related human rights claims to remain in the UK. Officially the Home Office has the power to provide accommodation in such cases in <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/733313/immigration-bail-v3.pdf">“exceptional circumstances”</a>, but there is no official application form people can use, and requests are regularly refused. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262231/original/file-20190305-48435-46bawt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262231/original/file-20190305-48435-46bawt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=450&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262231/original/file-20190305-48435-46bawt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=450&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262231/original/file-20190305-48435-46bawt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=450&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262231/original/file-20190305-48435-46bawt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=566&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262231/original/file-20190305-48435-46bawt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=566&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262231/original/file-20190305-48435-46bawt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=566&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Home Office: keeping people detained when they could be released.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lesteph/4955426964/in/photolist-8xTRMW-pNVNS5-8xQQ3x-8v5DYp-qtnrmA-3K5WFe-7qJAdU-2dgN1MG-ei8daE-eidYrC-nUGrS-2ZWdga-atv8v3-bA5HcJ-9DnrDU-VZbCUF-5QSEgq-fxUT-apLuC9-fDR3YV-d4AkW3-5EqiGc-gjTaiq-oZQgdZ-2SSo3m-75dSQv-67sXxZ-d4Akww-2BK8QB-7xLSfH-d4Ak7d-82TVrz-co2KEj-3sSNA5-fDR13e-JebAB-25J9X-jYDAMM-73RPzG-dc1y4Y-cTMHCj-W2yMe8-7KqvKa-7b1tJL-4zcSBW-Je5v9-k3VawD-5JwiXv-5GAc38-fLY5Uf">Steph Gray/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Reluctant judges</h2>
<p>Lack of accommodation is turning into a major blockage at bail hearings, as judges are reluctant to release detainees to the streets. A key part of judges’ considerations in bail hearings is to assess whether someone will be able to comply with reporting requirements and work restrictions if they are going to be destitute when released. People who find themselves homeless on release can be <a href="https://www.amnesty.org.uk/node/53550">re-detained</a> for breaking these kinds of bail conditions. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/work-ban-forces-asylum-seekers-into-destitution-but-we-now-have-a-chance-to-change-this-policy-112254">Work ban forces asylum seekers into destitution – but we now have a chance to change this policy</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>At present, many people are granted bail by judges, subject to the Home Office providing accommodation – <a href="https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/bail-guidance-2018-final.pdf">often within 14 days</a>. Yet, the Home Office is <a href="http://www.biduk.org/resources/76-bid-briefing-on-post-detention-accommodation">ignoring these requests</a> from the tribunal, meaning that often the initial grant of bail lapses and the person remains in detention. NGO workers are reporting that this situation even puts some people off applying for release. Meanwhile, <a href="https://www.biduk.org/resources/76-bid-briefing-on-post-detention-accommodation">BID reported</a> cases where the Home Office itself released people onto the streets – sometimes the same people for whom it has opposed bail only days before.</p>
<h2>Long-term damage</h2>
<p>It is hard to get a grasp of the scale of the problem from government statistics. However, the largest detention legal aid solicitors firm, Duncan Lewis, <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/asylum-seekers-held-removal-centres-home-office-emergency-housing-a8354731.html">reported</a> clients confronting refusals of accommodation, or delays of months, on a daily basis.</p>
<p>The depth of the harm caused is considerable. These accommodation blockages result in continued incarceration of people who should not be detained, against well-established evidence regarding the devastating, often lifelong <a href="https://www.bma.org.uk/collective-voice/policy-and-research/ethics/health-and-human-rights-in-immigration-detention">damage</a> that indefinite detention can cause to people’s mental and physical health. Many people enter detention sound of mind and leave with mental health issues. </p>
<p>If detention is being prolonged because of lack of accommodation, even for a matter of days, the Home Office may be breaking the law. If detention is not for the purposes of preventing unauthorised entry or effecting removal, it’s incompatible with <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/470593/2015-10-23_Ch55_v19.pdf">Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights</a>. It’s unacceptable that a person is deprived of their right to liberty because of a lack of resources or cumbersome practices on the part of the Home Office or its agencies. For example, in a recent case, the Home Office refused to house a former detainee in the north east for <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/sep/27/uk-asylum-seekers-refused-housing-over-social-cohesion-issues.">social cohesion reasons.</a></p>
<p>This nexus between detention and destitution arose from a series of ostensibly obscure tweaks to the immigration bail regime, dismantling earlier provisions which sensibly facilitated successful tribunal bail applicants’ transition from detention into public accommodation. The new provisions attack the human rights of people already made vulnerable by the immigration system, either prolonging detention or forcing them into destitution.</p>
<p><em>*Names have been changed to protect anonymity.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/110482/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna Lindley has in the past received funding from the Bar Council of England and Wales and a British Academy/Leverhulme small grant to carry out research on detention-related issues.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Clara Della Croce is affiliated with the Bail Observation Project (BOP) as a volunteer.</span></em></p>Changes to immigration rules have left migrants without family and friends in the UK trapped in immigration detention – despite being granted bail.Anna Lindley, Senior Lecturer in Migration, Mobility and Development, SOAS, University of LondonClara Della Croce, Senior Teaching Fellow, SOAS, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1107132019-03-04T19:03:19Z2019-03-04T19:03:19ZHow the next Australian government can balance security and compassion for asylum seekers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258650/original/file-20190213-90491-j9enr0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Crossbenchers Kerryn Phelps, Julia Banks and Rebekah Sharkie celebrate the passing of the &quot;Medivac&quot; law through the House of Representatives.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Lukas Coch</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This is part of a major series called Advancing Australia, in which leading academics examine the key issues facing Australia in the lead-up to the 2019 federal election and beyond. Read the other pieces in the series <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/advancing-australia-66135">here</a>.</em></p>
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<p>With a rapidly changing climate and increased instability in the world order, patterns of people movement are likely to change dramatically in the future. It is not a tenable response to isolate Australia from the shocks of these changes.</p>
<p>Sadly, the politicisation of refugee policy <a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-politics-explainer-the-mv-tampa-and-the-transformation-of-asylum-seeker-policy-74078">since the Tampa crisis of 2001</a> indicates that our major political parties are incapable of the kind of honest and open decision-making that is required in this complex and vexed policy space. However, the passing of the Kerryn Phelps-<a href="https://theconversation.com/morrison-government-defeated-on-medical-bill-despite-constitution-play-111636">led amendments to the Migration Act</a> to facilitate medical evacuations from Manus Island and Nauru may point to a shift in the nation’s mood on the issue. </p>
<p>In the second half of the 20th century, Australia transformed the idea of itself into a multicultural nation. An important part of this story has been Australia’s contribution to the resettlement of refugees. </p>
<p>Australia was the first country outside Europe to accede to the <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/1951-refugee-convention.html">1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees</a>. Australia was also an early adopter of the <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/ProtocolStatusOfRefugees.aspx">1967 protocol</a> that extended the convention beyond Europe. Australia’s generous resettlement of refugees under the convention has reinforced its identity as a nation built on migrants. </p>
<p>Australia’s acceptance of refugees remained uncontroversial while the numbers of refugees could be strictly controlled through its immigration program. The first serious challenge to control was the arrival of <a href="https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/vietnamese-refugees-boat-arrival">boatloads of Vietnamese refugees</a> in 1976. However, the Fraser Coalition government maintained control through an arrangement with South East Asian countries that Australia would resettle a high number of Vietnamese refugees if those countries stopped redirecting boats that arrived on their shores back out to sea. </p>
<h2>How the Tampa changed Australian asylum-seeker policy</h2>
<p>When boats began arriving in larger numbers from 1999 to 2001, the struggling Howard Coalition government used the rescue of 438 asylum seekers by the MV Tampa as an opportunity to implement a more restrictive policy. This included boat turn-backs, offshore processing and detention, and issuing temporary protection visas for people arriving by boat whose applications for asylum were accepted. The boats stopped arriving within months. </p>
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<p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/australian-politics-explainer-the-mv-tampa-and-the-transformation-of-asylum-seeker-policy-74078">Australian politics explainer: the MV Tampa and the transformation of asylum-seeker policy</a>
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<p>In 2007, the Labor government dismantled these policy settings. Asylum seekers arriving by boat were rescued at sea and processed on the Australian territory of Christmas Island. If they were found to be refugees, they were granted permanent protection visas. This policy was premised on boat arrivals being at similar levels to those experienced previously. But this proved mistaken. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258060/original/file-20190210-174883-hr9n30.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258060/original/file-20190210-174883-hr9n30.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=450&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258060/original/file-20190210-174883-hr9n30.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=450&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258060/original/file-20190210-174883-hr9n30.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=450&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258060/original/file-20190210-174883-hr9n30.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=566&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258060/original/file-20190210-174883-hr9n30.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=566&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258060/original/file-20190210-174883-hr9n30.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=566&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The Norwegian cargo ship Tampa collected 438 stranded asylum seekers and changed Australian policy on the issue.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Wallenius Wilhelmsen</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By 2013, refugee policy was in disarray. In 2012, <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1617/Quick_Guides/BoatTurnbacks">17,204 people arrived by boat</a>, rising to 20,587 in 2013. This far outnumbered the planned refugee intake of 13,750 and reinforced the fear that Australia was in danger of being “swamped” by asylum seekers.</p>
<p>Prior to this rapid rise in boat arrivals, the Labor government had attempted to introduce a <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-07-25/malaysia-signs-refugee-deal/2809512">novel policy response</a>, the Australia-Malaysia asylum-seeker transfer agreement. The Malaysian government agreed to the return to Malaysia of asylum seekers who tried to reach Australia by boat via Indonesia. Malaysia guaranteed housing, education and work rights for these asylum seekers, but also that they would receive no advantage in resolving their application for refugee resettlement. </p>
<p>This arrangement removed the incentive to take a risky boat journey to Australia.
We will never know if it would have stopped the boats, as the High Court held the government did not have the power to implement the arrangement, and the Coalition and the Greens blocked an attempt by the government to amend the Migration Act to provide it with the requisite power. </p>
<p>In mid-2013, the Labor government <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1314/AsylumPolicies">changed direction</a> radically. It committed to offshore processing for the first time, stating categorically that no asylum seeker reaching Australia by boat <a href="https://theconversation.com/no-more-asylum-in-australia-for-those-arriving-by-boat-rudd-16238">would ever be resettled here</a>.</p>
<p>When it was returned to government in 2013, the Abbott Coalition government readily adopted Labor’s policy and added a policy of aggressive boat turn-backs covered in a <a href="https://theconversation.com/should-operations-to-turn-the-boats-around-be-kept-secret-18670">veil of operational secrecy</a>. It also reintroduced temporary protection visas for the 30,000 asylum seekers who had entered Australia during the six years of Labor government. Within a few months, boat arrivals had <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-boats-may-have-stopped-but-at-what-cost-to-australia-30455">ceased completely</a>. </p>
<h2>Asylum-seeker policy becomes a national security issue</h2>
<p>The current Coalition government has successfully cast refugee policy as an issue of border security. The ministers for immigration, first Scott Morrison and then Peter Dutton, have spun a narrative that any softening of the government’s stance on resettlement would risk relaunching a flotilla of boats.</p>
<p>The line they have drawn is breathtaking in its strictness. The government has been unwilling even to accept New Zealand’s offer to resettle <a href="https://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/369352/nz-confirms-refugee-offer-is-150-each-year">150 refugees a year</a> from offshore detention for fear they will then have backdoor entry to Australia. It has also made it very difficult for asylum seekers to get emergency medical treatment in Australia. </p>
<p>The government’s narrative of border protection does not acknowledge the human cost of long-term offshore detention. Since detention centres on Nauru and Manus were opened in 2014, <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/operation-sovereign-borders-offshore-detention-statistics/">3,127 people</a> have been transferred there. As of early February 2019, as a result of third-country resettlements and voluntary returns, about <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/feb/10/coalition-ministers-fail-to-explain-whether-all-refugees-held-offshore-need-medical-transfer">1,000 remain</a>. The last <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-03/nauru-last-asylum-seeker-children-to-leave-detention-pm-says/10774910">children on Nauru</a> were resettled in the US in February 2019. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/as-children-are-airlifted-from-nauru-a-cruel-and-inhumane-policy-may-finally-be-ending-105487">As children are airlifted from Nauru, a cruel and inhumane policy may finally be ending</a>
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<p>Despite strictly controlling access to information from Nauru and Manus, the government has not been able to prevent courageous medical officials bearing witness to the human suffering of refugees. This includes suicides and self-harm, and children simply giving up. It has not been able to prevent Behrouz Boochani using mobile phone messages <a href="https://theconversation.com/book-review-behrouz-boochanis-unsparing-look-at-the-brutality-of-manus-island-101520">to write an award-winning book</a> bearing witness to the official strategies used to break the spirit of refugees on Manus Island. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258059/original/file-20190210-174857-yipo0e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258059/original/file-20190210-174857-yipo0e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=338&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258059/original/file-20190210-174857-yipo0e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=338&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258059/original/file-20190210-174857-yipo0e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=338&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258059/original/file-20190210-174857-yipo0e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=424&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258059/original/file-20190210-174857-yipo0e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=424&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258059/original/file-20190210-174857-yipo0e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=424&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Asylum seeker and journalist Behrouz Boochani wrote the award-winning book No Friend but the Mountains.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Amnesty International handout</span></span>
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<h2>Finding a more humane way forward</h2>
<p>As on so many policy issues facing Australia, we need an honest discussion on refugees. On the one hand, it needs to be acknowledged that refugees are victims of regimes intent on persecuting them and are deserving (and entitled) to our protection. </p>
<p>As a nation, we continue to have a policy of high levels of immigration, and refugees can be a significant part of our strategy for future prosperity. We have a responsibility not to contribute further to people’s suffering, and thus long-term detention of refugees is untenable.</p>
<p>On the other hand, Australians believe they are entitled to determine who is provided access to the benefit of membership in the Australian state. This being the case, refugee policy must be able to control the number of people who are accepted for resettlement. The most effective mechanism of control is to prevent onshore arrivals by boat and plane, and to use planned resettlement from refugee camps in consultation with the UNHCR. </p>
<p>The unprecedented number of boat arrivals in 2012-13 tilted the equation towards control over compassion. However, there is a sensible middle ground more in line with Australian values.</p>
<p>First, it is possible to resettle all the asylum seekers on Nauru and Manus in Australia expeditiously, without triggering large numbers of boat arrivals. This resettlement must be the immediate priority of a new government. It was never envisaged that refugees would spend up to six years in offshore detention.</p>
<p>Retaining the architecture of offshore detention and processing for the future and the possibility of boat turn-backs is more than adequate deterrent to prevent people risking the perilous journey to Australia by boat. The Coalition governments in 2001 and 2013 demonstrated that if this proves to be wrong, introducing a hard-line policy can stop the boats very quickly.</p>
<p>Second, all those refugees on <a href="https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-listing/temporary-protection-785">Temporary Protection Visas</a> and <a href="https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-listing/safe-haven-enterprise-790">Safe Haven Enterprise Visas</a> in Australia need to be offered permanent protection. Temporary visas create a huge psychological and social burden on refugees in Australia, with no benefits.</p>
<p>Third, the movement of refugees, particularly from the Middle East, through South East Asia to Australia is a regional problem. The Australian government needs to resume discussions with Indonesia and Malaysia about a more nuanced solution. </p>
<p>With the Coalition cutting through with its narrative of fear of invasion and Labor still spooked by policy failure during its previous term in government, it has taken independent MPs to begin to push Australian refugee policy to a sensible middle ground.</p>
<p>Kerryn Phelps’ amendment to the Migration Act, supported by Labor and the Greens, <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-how-will-the-medivac-bill-actually-affect-ill-asylum-seekers-111645">provides for</a> the evacuation of asylum seekers and refugees to Australia if two doctors assess that they require medical treatment not available on Nauru or Manus Island. The minister for home affairs retains the power to reject a transfer on security grounds. The law is also limited in its application to refugees already on Nauru and Manus Island. </p>
<p>In parliament, Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten framed their positions on the “Medivac” law as a test of character. Morrison focused on the importance of “mettle” and “holding the line”. Shorten focused on “compassion” and “balance”. </p>
<p>The passing of the law ensures refugee policy will be a key election issue once again. The Australian people will determine what version of character prevails.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/110713/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alex Reilly receives funding from the Department of Social Services in its National Grants scheme to conduct research into Refugee Women and Work.</span></em></p>Since the Tampa affair in 2001, successive governments have been anxious to be seen as "hard-line" on asylum seekers, but the cost – to people and the country – has been too high.Alex Reilly, Director of the Public Law and Policy Research Unit, Adelaide Law School, University of AdelaideLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1122542019-02-22T10:53:38Z2019-02-22T10:53:38ZWork ban forces asylum seekers into destitution – but we now have a chance to change this policy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/260198/original/file-20190221-195883-1iewd26.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ready to get to work. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/chef-tossing-stir-fry-over-large-448368769?src=n736LJkWU9cRPwnbYfdhEg-1-18">wavebreakmedia/ Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>One of the ugly realities of the British asylum system lies in the work ban placed on people awaiting a decision on their asylum claim. The ban on working often forces people to rely on friends and family, or, worse, into destitution. This restriction is <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-access-to-work-really-a-pull-factor-for-asylum-seekers-57757">often justified</a> by the mistaken notion that it will limit the number of people claiming asylum in the UK. </p>
<p>Following a <a href="https://www.refugee-action.org.uk/lift-the-ban/">sustained campaign</a>, and two <a href="https://services.parliament.uk/Bills/2017-19/asylumseekerspermissiontowork.html">private members bills</a> spearheaded by Labour MP Catherine West and Liberal Democrat Christine Jardine, parliament will have an opportunity to challenge this damaging policy. </p>
<p>The current law allows people claiming asylum in the UK to work if, and only if, they have not received a decision on their asylum claim within 12 months. Even then they are required to apply to the Home Office for permission. If a person is permitted to seek employment, they may only take up positions on a list of <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/immigration-rules-appendix-k-shortage-occupation-list">shortage occupations,</a> which includes roles such as petroleum engineer or software developer. This leaves many asylum seekers with a de-facto total ban on working.</p>
<p>The two bills, still currently being drafted, are likely to make relatively similar provisions with both reducing the length of the ban on asylum seekers working – it has been suggested to three and six months respectively. Both will also seek to allow applications to roles beyond those on the shortage occupation list. </p>
<h2>Barred from working</h2>
<p>Limitations on the ability to work have hugely corrosive effects on the lives of people claiming asylum. For example, Jaspal* a participant in my <a href="https://www.city.ac.uk/people/students/alex-powell">ongoing research</a> on LGBTQ+ asylum seekers, likened the treatment he received in the UK with the discrimination he endured in his country of origin. He told me:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Regardless of where you are, it is discrimination … I felt like I ran away from being persecuted for being gay and now I am being persecuted here just for claiming asylum. I didn’t do anything that was unlawful or anything. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Another person I interviewed, called Salim* claimed that the restriction on working partly fuelled anti-refugee rhetoric within the UK.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I want to work, to contribute, and be a part of society. But I am not allowed. You see all these people trying to claim that individuals fleeing the war in Syria are just here to take and the reality is that the UK government won’t allow them to contribute, they won’t allow me to contribute either. It’s ridiculous and it makes it very hard to survive. How are we supposed to survive?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>What these two accounts make clear is that asylum seekers themselves view the current work restrictions as barring them from full participation in society, firmly identifying the policy as a form of discrimination and exclusion. This chimes with the findings of a report from the campaign coalition <a href="https://www.refugee-action.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Lift-the-Ban-report.pdf">Lift the Ban</a>, which identified the working ban as a significant cause of social exclusion among asylum seekers.</p>
<p>But this is only part of the picture. Even more concerning are the cases in which people are forced into destitution by their inability to work or claim adequate state support. Asylum claimants are eligible <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/asylum-in-the-uk.html">for just £5.39 subsistence</a> payment a day in support. This means many struggle to cover their basic needs. In November 2018, the Equality and Human Rights Commission <a href="https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/publication-download/making-sure-people-seeking-and-refused-asylum-can-access-healthcare-what-needs">revealed</a> that many asylum seekers are being forced to choose between eating or paying to attend essential medical appointments. </p>
<p>The Lift The Ban report documented that 52% of the 246 people the coalition surveyed were <a href="https://www.refugee-action.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Lift-the-Ban-report.pdf">forced to rely on food banks</a> at some point during their claim. This is made worse by the fact that many asylum seekers are <a href="https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/publication-download/making-sure-people-seeking-and-refused-asylum-can-access-healthcare-what-needs">being forced to wait months</a> before they can start receiving their subsistence payment. The reality is that in many cases, asylum seekers are simply being <a href="https://www.refugee-action.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Lift-the-Ban-report.pdf%22%22">forced into destitution and desperation</a> by the ban on working.</p>
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<h2>Chance for change</h2>
<p>Things do not have to be this way. The criteria under which someone is designated a refugee are outlined under the <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/3b66c2aa10">Refugee Convention of 1951</a>, amended by a <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/ProtocolStatusOfRefugees.aspx">1967 protocol</a>. The core criteria are that the claimant cannot, or is not willing, to return to their country of origin because they have a well-founded fear of persecution relating to their race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion. </p>
<p>Accounting for this, all asylum seekers are potentially traumatised people who have come to the UK requesting sanctuary. Many will have suffered horrific wrongs, while others will be fearful of what the future might hold. The wait for an asylum claim, often in extreme poverty, only <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/5050/sonal-ghelani/government-in-dock-destitution-and-asylum-in-uk">exacerbates the anxiety</a>.</p>
<p>The UK has a moral and legal duty to help these people – but is instead currently forcing them into destitution and desperation. This must change. The bills currently before parliament offer the chance of a brighter future – let’s hope that other MPs are willing to welcome that future.</p>
<p><em>*Names have been changed to protect anonymity.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/112254/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alex Powell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Two bills currently before the British parliament seek to reduce the 12 month ban on asylum seekers from working.Alex Powell, PhD Candidate, City, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1120282019-02-21T10:37:59Z2019-02-21T10:37:59ZLanguage has become a tool for social exclusion<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/259970/original/file-20190220-148545-1cj3x9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/muslim-woman-looking-hotel-apartment-window-655339444?src=FlK1mQM4Emct5yYQ_n4drQ-1-1">Zurijeta/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Within a week of the <a href="https://www.salzburgglobal.org/">Salzburg Global Seminar’s</a> <a href="https://www.salzburgglobal.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Documents/2010-2019/2017/Session_586/EN_SalzburgGlobal_Statement_586_-_Multilingual_World_English.pdf">Statement for a Multilingual World</a> launching in February 2018, the document – which calls for policies and practices that support multilingualism – had received 1.5m social media impressions. </p>
<p>The statement opens with some striking facts, including that “all 193 UN member states and most people are multilingual”. It also points out that 7,097 languages are currently spoken across the world but 2,464 of these are endangered. Just 23 languages dominate among these 7,097, and are spoken by over half of the world’s population.</p>
<p>As these statistics show, the soundtrack of our lives and the visual landscapes of our cities are multilingual. Languages, in their plurality, enrich our experience of the world and our creative potential. Multilingualism opens up new ways of being and of doing, it connects us with others and provides a window into the diversity of our societies. And yet, despite the more positive statistics above, we are currently witnessing a deep divide. </p>
<p>On the one hand, multilingualism is associated with mobility, productivity and knowledge creation (see, for instance, the EU’s objective for <a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/factsheets/en/sheet/142/language-policy">all citizens to speak two languages</a> in addition to their first one). On the other, monolingualism (speaking only one language) is still perceived as <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=r7vjDAAAQBAJ&amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;dq=gramling+monolingualism&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=0ahUKEwjJ04fsq8rgAhUGy1kKHQKbCEEQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&amp;q=gramling%20monolingualism&amp;f=false">both the norm and the ideal</a> for an allegedly well-functioning society. Linguistic diversity is seen as both <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/2-american-women-detained-after-speaking-spanish-montana-file-suit-n971716">suspicious</a> and <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-25933699">costly</a>.</p>
<h2>Linguistic penalties</h2>
<p>This is particularly visible in relation to the most vulnerable groups seeking a new home: refugees and asylum seekers. Newcomers are <a href="https://www.gov.uk/english-language">often required</a> to prove they can <a href="https://www.lawyers.com/legal-info/immigration/citizenship/english-and-civics-requirements-for-naturalization.html">read, write and speak</a> the national language/s to be given the right to remain. Fluency, however, goes beyond technical ability in the majority languages. In the 1980s, <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=PnXSXb6866EC&amp;dq=Gumperz,+J.+J.+(1982).+Language+and+Social+Identity.+Cambridge:+Cambridge+University+Press&amp;lr=&amp;source=gbs_navlinks_s">researchers showed</a> that language is more than just a code by which we communicate, it is related to social and political knowledge, and access to power structures.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/259967/original/file-20190220-148506-j0xs0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/259967/original/file-20190220-148506-j0xs0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/259967/original/file-20190220-148506-j0xs0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/259967/original/file-20190220-148506-j0xs0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/259967/original/file-20190220-148506-j0xs0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/259967/original/file-20190220-148506-j0xs0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/259967/original/file-20190220-148506-j0xs0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Standing out from the crowd.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/one-different-pawn-difference-conception-745421302">Nat.photo/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Language skills are critically important for engagement with a host society and lacking those skills can be an insurmountable barrier for accessing opportunities in education, work, and other areas of social life. Success in finding one’s place in a new social context, however, requires more than instrumental use of language. </p>
<p>Research has shown that refugees pay a “<a href="https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/gatekeeping-discourse-in-employment-interviews(f0306a66-aabb-4d5b-82db-869ca4759c37)/export.html">linguistic penalty</a>” when transitioning to a new socioeconomic environment. That penalty refers to the consequences of being categorised as “different” or not “one of us” on the basis of language performance that does not follow established societal norms.</p>
<p>Speakers who inadvertently break societal rules of expected behaviour are assessed as “not having enough language”, <a href="https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-negotiating-boundaries-at-work.html">which becomes a proxy</a> for an inability to “fit in”. That inability, in turn, is interpreted as a moral deficiency: lack of fluency <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0261018316655934">becomes a sign of</a> insufficient desire to become “one of us” and marks the migrant as both a “failed” and a “bad” citizen.</p>
<p>Language, held up as a sign of belonging, becomes a gatekeeper for <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Culture-Discourse-and-the-Workplace-1st-Edition/Angouri/p/book/9780415523967">inclusion/exclusion</a>, regulating access to citizenship and education, health and legal protection. The responsibility for success or failure falls firmly on the shoulders of the “other” – the migrant, the minority member, the one who <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/linguistic-diversity-and-social-justice-9780199937264?cc=gb&amp;lang=en&amp;">“does not fit in”</a>. This process is clearly visible in citizenship and language tests. The tests blur language assessment with reproducing and assessing abstract values about the home society. They take a <a href="http://eipcp.net/transversal/0606/buden/en">narrow approach to cultural diversity</a> and represent <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0261018316655934">one hegemonic set</a> of “ways of doing things around here”.</p>
<h2>Deficit approach</h2>
<p>The myth of one nation, one (national) language, one (national) culture – which was at the heart of the ideal of the nation state <a href="http://ucparis.fr/files/9313/6549/9943/What_is_a_Nation.pdf">in the 19th and 20th centuries</a> – perpetuates the master narrative of national homogeneity. The <a href="https://benjamins.com/catalog/dapsac.33.12nam">consistent and robust evidence</a> that “native speakers” (a political term in its own right) fail citizenship tests and that the evaluation process is deeply political has not yet produced an alternative narrative.</p>
<p>By projecting a deficit approach onto refugees and asylum seekers, their contribution to society is dismissed and both their presence and the linguistic diversity attached to it are perceived as problems or costs. This mechanism of exclusion relies on a hierarchy in which not all languages are equal or desirable.</p>
<p>“Their” language(s) are low on the pecking order that the majority perceive as needed or wanted. Monolingual models insist on a “subtractive” principle in which one dominant language replaces another less “desirable” one, rather than recognising and valuing how multilingualism, by adding the ability to communicate in more than one language, can benefit everyone in our increasingly connected world. </p>
<p>These attitudes silence the contributions that new multilingual citizens make to economic growth, social cohesion or artistic production. A different approach is urgently needed, one that moves away from multilingualism as deficit and towards a recognition of linguistic and cultural diversity as a creative engine of civic participation and social well-being.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/112028/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Loredana Polezzi received funding from AHRC (Arts and Humanities Research Council, UK).
She is one of the signatories of the Salzburg Global Statement for a Multilingual World.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jo Angouri and Rita Wilson do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Vulnerable groups are being excluded from society due to their lack of ability to speak national languages.Loredana Polezzi, Professor in Translation Studies, Cardiff UniversityJo Angouri, Professor of Applied Linguistics, University of WarwickRita Wilson, Professor in Translation Studies, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1031632019-02-19T01:32:17Z2019-02-19T01:32:17ZFrom refugees to social media to pill testing, church signs are getting political<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/259614/original/file-20190218-56220-109ydxm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Billboard outside St Andrew’s Presbyterian, Murwillumbah, NSW 2018.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Louise Moana Kolff</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In recent times, church signs have become a stage for political commentary. In an age where most of our public debates happen digitally, and where welcoming public spaces for discussions are <a href="https://theconversation.com/are-we-in-the-midst-of-a-public-space-crisis-56124">in decline</a>, these signs provide an unexpected avenue for expression.</p>
<p>Such signs were originally designed to make it easy for churches to display service times or bible quotations. But as the number of Australians who regularly attend church <a href="http://www.2016ncls.org.au/resources/downloads/Local%20Churches%20in%20Australia-Research%20Findings%20from%20NCLS%20Research(2017).pdf">decreases</a>, some signs have become a platform for politics, morality and humour.</p>
<p>In his recent book, <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/outspoken-9780143788409">Outspoken</a>, Father Rod Bower, an Anglican minister from Gosford, NSW, describes how he realised he could <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-30/what-drives-the-priest-behind-those-controversial-church-signs/10169188">use the signs as a tool</a> to encourage people to think about social issues. He has said that he believes his role as a priest and a Christian is to <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/conversations/conversations-rod-bower/10189656">highlight human rights and social issues</a>.</p>
<p>In 2013 <a href="https://www.news-mail.com.au/news/radical-priest-rod-bower-reveals-tragic-story-behi/3510151/">Bower felt troubled</a> after administering the last rites to a dying man, whose family were uncomfortable disclosing the man’s homosexuality. In a gesture of support for the LGBTI community, Bower changed his church sign to read “Dear Christians, some ppl are gay. Get over it. Love God”. </p>
<p>The sign went viral on social media. Bower realised he had found a powerful platform for rallying support for issues such as marriage equality, asylum seekers and climate change action. </p>
<p>Earlier this month, Bower used his sign to call on Opposition Leader Bill Shorten to support the “Medevac” bill allowing medical evacuation of asylum-seekers on Manus Island and Nauru. He wrote: “If Bill doesn’t #backthebill don’t back Bill.” </p>
<div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props='{"tweetId":"1094793955458179072"}'></div>
<p>In this concise sentence Bower cleverly creates interplay between the online social media campaign (<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BackTheBill?src=hash">#BackTheBill</a>), the physical platform of the sign in public space, and the social media sharing of the photographed sign. </p>
<p>Bower has also used his signs to comment on debates around pill-testing at festivals. He posted the sign “When will we love our kids more than being right”, after conducting the funeral service of Alex Ross-King, a 19-year-old who died after taking drugs at a festival. </p>
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<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/259431/original/file-20190218-56208-skriep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=237&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/259431/original/file-20190218-56208-skriep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=900&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/259431/original/file-20190218-56208-skriep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=900&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/259431/original/file-20190218-56208-skriep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=900&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/259431/original/file-20190218-56208-skriep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=1131&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/259431/original/file-20190218-56208-skriep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=1131&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/259431/original/file-20190218-56208-skriep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=1131&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">St Paul’s Cathedral in Melbourne CBD.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/camperdown/28612888800/in/photolist-KAqwYY-3Y5n6-PHEg-7ghKjJ-4xcVU-cRUjLq-k8NMUy-e7FgQn-HdMAeY-7z2bT1-jmQvwb-UHziMr-dKR7Ev-edzTvy-9Wo7zs-EsAKKd-7gt8y4-dGfpnH-FjyQYY-EUMyxT-EQrkbD-FjyAeY-MvQaQs-oG29kf-b5PjSr-7oDiXS-uLRmr6-agLeW5-5Xxt3v-saKnmk-aBY9N6-KFKHz-9625fP-LghJQ-Lgh7L-9bVW1e-kkKLHP-edue9F-qUM66E-7coYcg-db6SPF-LgiFf-5rpY9W-a5sCnA-5thtTC-32Fjz-75H36K-dRz5a2-bv6PjG-aRj4cc">Hugh Llewelyn/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Using its prime location in central Melbourne as a communication tool, <a href="https://cathedral.org.au/cathedral/outreach/lets-fully-welcome-refugees/">St Paul’s Cathedral</a> has also weighed into the refugee crisis, with a large sign on its wall that reads “Let’s fully welcome refugees”.</p>
<p>The sign refers to volunteer work with refugees that happens inside the church, and urges Australia at large to be more welcoming towards those who come here seeking refuge. </p>
<p>Church signs have also expressed more conservative views, as illustrated by a sign put up by the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-08/church-signs-cause-stir-in-taree/7826666">Presbyterian Church in Taree</a> in response to the marriage equality debate. The sign said: “Marriage is one man + one woman.” </p>
<h2>The funny side</h2>
<p>Some church signs are unintentionally humorous, such as one displayed by an <a href="https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/gold-coast-church-removes-xrated-sign/news-story/f10cc4ca910169ab5bfb0686923c93d9">Anglican Church on the Gold Coast</a>. The sentence “Forgiveness is swallowing when you would rather spit” was meant to encourage people to swallow negative thoughts rather than spit them out. </p>
<p>However, many had a more lewd interpretation of it. The same sign caused caused controversy in <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5049625/Florida-church-changes-sign-message-seen-sexual.html">Florida</a>, and in <a href="https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/buckley-pastors-accidentally-risqu-church-11973976">North Wales</a>. </p>
<p>Other churches purposefully use the signs to display a funny side of Christianity. On Twitter, for instance, the hashtag <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/churchsigns">#ChurchSigns</a> shows a plethora of signs that use humour to engage with the public. These signs are mainly from the United States, where there is <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2006/dec/29/entertainment/et-sermon29">a tradition of using church signs</a> creatively. Many of the current signs focus on the dichotomy between religion and the digital world. </p>
<p>Signs outside a church in my local town have addressed issues of digital technology and social media in an increasingly secularised society. They address current debates surrounding, for instance, data theft, and the superficiality of social media. </p>
<p>On one poster, a giant “like” hand is pierced and bleeding. The sentence “Jesus more than likes you,” plays with the idea that Facebook “likes” lack depth and meaning in comparison to the deeper religious connections and personal relationship with Christ promoted by the church.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/259424/original/file-20190218-56243-pmshld.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/259424/original/file-20190218-56243-pmshld.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/259424/original/file-20190218-56243-pmshld.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=450&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/259424/original/file-20190218-56243-pmshld.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=450&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/259424/original/file-20190218-56243-pmshld.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=450&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/259424/original/file-20190218-56243-pmshld.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=565&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/259424/original/file-20190218-56243-pmshld.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=565&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/259424/original/file-20190218-56243-pmshld.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=565&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Billboard outside St Andrew’s Presbyterian church, Murwillumbah NSW, 2015.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Louise Moana Kolff</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Another poster states, “You can trust God with your data”. As a response to recent scandals of data theft, the message conveys the idea that one’s innermost prayers are safe with God.</p>
<p>This type of “religious marketing” cleverly taps into a loss of meaning that may be felt in contemporary society, and a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/feb/07/australias-trust-in-media-at-record-low-as-fake-news-fears-grow-survey-finds">growing distrust</a> of media institutions.</p>
<p>In a time when fewer Australians identify with <a href="https://theconversation.com/census-2016-shows-australias-changing-religious-profile-with-more-nones-than-catholics-79837">institutional religion</a> than ever before, the church sign is emerging as an intriguing platform for creativity and commentary. As countless public spaces are saturated with advertising, the position of the church in the centre of many towns allows the display of messages that make us think. This in turn may be a way for churches to increase their perceived relevance in contemporary society. </p>
<p>These signs, though interesting interludes in public space, can only reach limited audiences in their physical form. However, the use of social media to publish them makes <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-43985084">the distribution global</a>. </p>
<p>This interplay between physical and digital means that protagonists such a Bower can initiate important debates about the moral duties of society by carefully arranging a handful of plastic letters, and then sharing them with the world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/103163/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Louise Moana Kolff does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Originally designed to display service times or bible quotations, church signs are becoming a site of political commentary, tackling everything from pill testing to refugee rights.Louise Moana Kolff, Lecturer, UNSWLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1119102019-02-15T04:13:51Z2019-02-15T04:13:51ZVIDEO: Michelle Grattan on reopening Christmas Island and One Nation's shenanigans<figure>
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<p>University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor Deep Saini and Michelle Grattan talk about the week in politics. They discuss including the government’s historic defeat in the House of Representatives on the medevac legislation, plans to reopen the Christmas Island detention facility, One Nation’s embarrassing conduct and the push for a royal commission into the treatment of disabled people.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/111910/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Deep Saini and Michelle Grattan talk about the week in politics.Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1118662019-02-14T12:07:19Z2019-02-14T12:07:19ZGrattan on Friday: What does “reopening” Christmas Island actually mean and why do it?<p>The Morrison government, politically-speaking, is trying to do a
loaves-and-fishes exercise with the medevac legislation, over which the parliament defied the executive this week.</p>
<p>It is attempting to inflate Labor’s support for a modest measure to facilitate medical transfers from Manus and Nauru into a mini “Tampa” crisis.</p>
<p>Will this succeed? The short answer is surely “no”; the longer one is that this issue could take a deal of skin off Labor. The point is no one is yet sure how it will play out – both sides are operating on gut feelings until the polls and focus groups speak.</p>
<p>The Liberals think anything to do with “boats” is lethal for Labor; the ALP believes community attitudes have changed but is very apprehensive about how the debate would go if boats showed up.</p>
<p>No question, this is rocky for Bill Shorten. The government attack is ferocious, full of exaggeration and scaremongering.</p>
<p>But the Coalition’s tactics are also risky in a policy sense. Scott Morrison is running two lines. He claims that by supporting the medevac legislation Shorten has undermined offshore processing – sending a signal the borders are porous.</p>
<p>He goes on to say that the government, and he in particular, are ready to protect Australia against the danger of a new wave. Whatever the intelligence advisers want done will be done. The borders will stay strong.</p>
<p>Morrison rejects the argument that the detail of the legislation
limits the incentive to people smugglers, insisting they don’t bother with “nuance”.</p>
<p>Indeed. So which un-nuanced Morrison message will the smugglers hear? That the policy has been trashed – or that the borders are being fortified?</p>
<p>There is also the danger, which some critics have highlighted, that in its rhetoric about numerous alleged criminals on Nauru and Manus, the government could make the US more reluctant to take people (it has only accepted 456 so far – the deal was up to 1,250).</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/explainer-how-will-the-medevac-bill-actually-affect-ill-asylum-seekers-111645">Explainer: how will the 'medevac' bill actually affect ill asylum seekers?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>What the government is actually doing is hard to pin down. Take the reopening of the Christmas Island detention facility – or to be more precise “a series of compounds” there – which attracted big headlines, and attention overseas.</p>
<p>What does “reopening” mean? Going in with the vacuum cleaners and the mops so that the centre could function if required? Or setting up some of it immediately on a serious day-to-day operating basis?</p>
<p>And how convincing is the rationale for this reopening, which Morrison described as for dealing “with the prospect of transfers”?</p>
<p>The government says that with the closing of many detention centres, space is somewhat tight. But if people are transferred because they are sick, Christmas Island is hardly the best place for access to medical practitioners.</p>
<p>Maybe some people currently in detention elsewhere would be moved to Christmas Island to make room for newcomers. But wouldn’t it be a lot cheaper and easier - if less dramatic and headline-grabbing - just to lease some more accommodation near currently-operating facilities?</p>
<p>Anyway, while some of the transferees would be kept in detention,
what’s happened previously suggests a lot could be let into the
community.</p>
<p>It’s true that the advice from the Home Affairs department envisaged a scenario “likely necessitating the stand-up of the Christmas Island facility”, but it had the flavour of a worst-case one. (With an election and the prospect of a change of government raising questions about the future of Home Affairs secretary Mike Pezzullo, one wonders what he thinks about the department’s advice being used publicly by the government as a battering ram against Labor.)</p>
<p>If the government really intends to “reopen” Christmas Island in any major way, it could find itself spending a lot of money there on few if any people. If it is a faux reopening, it’s just a bit of spin that should be called out.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/a-refugee-law-expert-on-a-week-of-reckless-rhetoric-and-a-new-way-to-process-asylum-seeker-claims-111756">A refugee law expert on a week of 'reckless' rhetoric and a new way to process asylum seeker claims</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The medevac bill was passed despite the best efforts of the minority government to stop it, including a Senate filibuster on the final sitting day of last year, to delay the bill reaching the lower house then.</p>
<p>On Thursday a rather panicked government did a rerun of that December day.</p>
<p>This time, the Senate had passed a motion – opposed by the Coalition – calling for a royal commission “into violence, abuse and neglect of people with disability.” Labor, expecting the motion to reach the House on Thursday afternoon, prepared to push it through with crossbench support.</p>
<p>The government says it knew the message from the Senate hadn’t arrived as question time was nearing its normal end. But it was spooked by the opposition’s tactics, and fearful of what Labor might be up to. So it just kept question time running for some 150 minutes, a record.</p>
<p>Earlier in the day, it had to pull its legislation for applying a “big stick” to errant energy companies, because the House appeared set to amend it to prevent the government underwriting coal projects.</p>
<p>The government says it will take the “big stick” plan to the election. But its inability to have it bedded down before then is another failure in a long line in the energy area.</p>
<p>The vote on the disability motion will happen on Monday and the
Coalition will not oppose it – despite its stand in the Senate. The government says it will then consider what action it should take.</p>
<p>Abuse of disabled people is surely as important an issue as the
ill-treatment of the elderly. With the public increasingly demanding the facts and culprits be revealed where there is evidence of misconduct, a royal commission in parallel with the aged care one would have merit, in both policy and political terms.</p>
<p>The parliamentary week has been rugged for both sides – the government hasn’t been in control of the House but Labor hasn’t been in control of the debate, which it wanted to be all about banks not boats.</p>
<p>Then again, nothing could match One Nation’s tribulation, with its
leader Pauline Hanson accused of sexual harassment by a bitter
ex-colleague, senator Brian Burston, and her right-hand man, James
Ashby, publicly scuffling with her accuser. This is a party beyond
embarrassment.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/111866/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>If the government really intends to “reopen” Christmas Island in any major way, it could find itself spending a lot of money there on few if any people.Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1117562019-02-14T05:41:13Z2019-02-14T05:41:13ZA refugee law expert on a week of 'reckless' rhetoric and a new way to process asylum seeker claims<p>Today, we’re bringing you a special episode of our podcast <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/podcasts/trust-me-podcast">Trust Me, I’m An Expert</a> for anyone wondering: what the hell happened this week? </p>
<p>A sitting government lost a vote on the floor of parliament (which hasn’t happened in decades) over a bill that aims to facilitate medical transfers from Manus and Nauru. </p>
<p>(You can hear the MP Kerryn Phelps, who set the ball rolling for that legislation, give her account on Michelle Grattan’s politics podcast over <a href="https://theconversation.com/politics-with-michelle-grattan-kerryn-phelps-on-medical-transfer-numbers-111751">here</a>).</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/politics-with-michelle-grattan-kerryn-phelps-on-medical-transfer-numbers-111751">Politics with Michelle Grattan: Kerryn Phelps on medical transfer numbers</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>A day after a bloc of cross-benchers and the opposition won the vote, Prime Minister Scott Morrison signalled the government may re-open the Christmas Island detention facility and the Coalition was accusing Labor of being weak on borders. </p>
<p>In other words, a federal election campaign centred on border security has well and truly begun. </p>
<p>To help us understand the broader context, we’re hearing today from Dr Daniel Ghezelbash, a refugee law expert from Macquarie University. </p>
<p>In our discussion, he busted several myths about how the asylum seeker “medevac” bill would work, and described as “reckless” political rhetoric that the new legislation represents a destruction of Australia’s border security. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/explainer-how-will-the-medevac-bill-actually-affect-ill-asylum-seekers-111645">Explainer: how will the 'medevac' bill actually affect ill asylum seekers?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This week, many Australians cheered the release of refugee footballer Hakeem Al-Araibi, and <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-14/politicisation-of-refugees-stop-playing-politics-with-migration/10808394">reports</a> emerged showing airport arrivals of asylum seekers has soared, but much of the political discussion centred on boat arrivals.</p>
<p>The focus on boat arrivals in the lead-up to an election should be familiar to any student of Australian political history, he said – but this time it may be different. </p>
<p>Join us on Trust Me, I’m An Expert, as Dr Daniel Ghezelbash explains a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/may/31/theres-a-workable-alternative-to-australias-asylum-policy">policy alternative</a> to our current system of offshore processing that he says wouldn’t involve compromising security or shirking our international legal obligations.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/we-dont-know-how-many-asylum-seekers-are-turned-away-at-australian-airports-111344">We don't know how many asylum seekers are turned away at Australian airports</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>New to podcasts?</h2>
<p>Podcasts are often best enjoyed using a podcast app. All iPhones come with the Apple Podcasts app already installed, or you may want to listen and subscribe on another app such as Pocket Casts (click <a href="https://pca.st/VTv7">here</a> to listen to Trust Me, I’m An Expert on Pocket Casts).</p>
<p>You can also hear us on Stitcher, Spotify or any of the apps below. Just pick a service from one of those listed below and click on the icon to find Trust Me, I’m An Expert.</p>
<p><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/trust-me-im-an-expert/id1290047736?mt=2&amp;ign-mpt=uo%3D8"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233721/original/file-20180827-75984-1gfuvlr.png" alt="Listen on Apple Podcasts" width="268" height="68"></a> <a href="https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly90aGVjb252ZXJzYXRpb24uY29tL2F1L3BvZGNhc3RzL3RydXN0LW1lLXBvZGNhc3QucnNz"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233720/original/file-20180827-75978-3mdxcf.png" alt="" width="268" height="68"></a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-conversation/trust-me-im-an-expert"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233716/original/file-20180827-75981-pdp50i.png" alt="Stitcher" width="300" height="88"></a> <a href="https://tunein.com/podcasts/News--Politics-Podcasts/Trust-Me-Im-An-Expert-p1035757/"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233723/original/file-20180827-75984-f0y2gb.png" alt="Listen on TuneIn" width="318" height="125"></a></p>
<p><a href="https://radiopublic.com/trust-me-im-an-expert-Wa3E5A"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233717/original/file-20180827-75990-86y5tg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=268&amp;fit=clip" alt="Listen on RadioPublic" width="268" height="87"></a> <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/7myc7drbLJVaRitAMXLB7V"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/237984/original/file-20180925-149976-1ks72uy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=268&amp;fit=clip" width="268" height="82"></a> </p>
<hr>
<h2>Additional audio</h2>
<p>Kindergarten by Unkle Ho, from <a href="https://www.elefanttraks.com/">Elefant Traks</a></p>
<p>Guardian News <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PMBdBNAneE">video</a>. </p>
<p>Sky News <a href="https://twitter.com/SkyNewsAust/status/1095493652502081536">report</a>.</p>
<p>RN Breakfast <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/future-under-labor-means-weak-border-protection/10810282">report</a>.</p>
<h2>Image:</h2>
<p>AAP Image/Mick Tsikas</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/111756/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Today on Trust Me, I'm An Expert, a refugee legal expert busts myths about how proposed medical transfer rules would work, and described some of this week's border security rhetoric as 'reckless'.Sunanda Creagh, Head of Digital StorytellingLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1117512019-02-13T05:40:52Z2019-02-13T05:40:52ZPolitics with Michelle Grattan: Kerryn Phelps on medical transfer numbers<p>Independent MP Kerryn Phelps, who set the ball rolling for the medical transfers legislation, says its passage is “a remarkable exercise in cooperation”.</p>
<p>Phelps says that of the about 1000 people on Manus and Nauru “around 70 people require urgent medical evacuation” and “another couple of hundred will require transfer but not as urgently”.</p>
<p>She describes Scott Morrison’s proposal to reopen the Christmas Island detention facility as a “political statement”.</p>
<p>“What we need to do is to have a regional resettlement option for people who are currently on Manus and Nauru so they don’t have to become so sick that they have to be transferred to Australia to await resettlement somewhere else.” </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/a-refugee-law-expert-on-a-week-of-reckless-rhetoric-and-a-new-way-to-process-asylum-seeker-claims-111756">A refugee law expert on a week of 'reckless' rhetoric and a new way to process asylum seeker claims</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>New to podcasts?</h2>
<p>Podcasts are often best enjoyed using a podcast app. All iPhones come with the Apple Podcasts app already installed, or you may want to listen and subscribe on another app such as Pocket Casts (click <a href="http://pca.st/BVa3#t=3m34s">here</a> to listen to Politics with Michelle Grattan on Pocket Casts).</p>
<p>You can also hear it on Stitcher, Spotify or any of the apps below. Just pick a service from one of those listed below and click on the icon to find Politics with Michelle Grattan.</p>
<p><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/politics-with-michelle-grattan/id703425900?mt=2"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233721/original/file-20180827-75984-1gfuvlr.png" alt="Listen on Apple Podcasts" width="268" height="68"></a> <a href="https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly90aGVjb252ZXJzYXRpb24uY29tL2F1L3BvZGNhc3RzL3BvbGl0aWNzLXdpdGgtbWljaGVsbGUtZ3JhdHRhbi5yc3M"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233720/original/file-20180827-75978-3mdxcf.png" alt="" width="268" height="68"></a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-conversation-4/politics-with-michelle-grattan"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233716/original/file-20180827-75981-pdp50i.png" alt="Stitcher" width="300" height="88"></a> <a href="https://tunein.com/podcasts/News--Politics-Podcasts/Politics-with-Michelle-Grattan-p227852/"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233723/original/file-20180827-75984-f0y2gb.png" alt="Listen on TuneIn" width="318" height="125"></a></p>
<p><a href="https://radiopublic.com/politics-with-michelle-grattan-WRElBZ"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233717/original/file-20180827-75990-86y5tg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=268&amp;fit=clip" alt="Listen on RadioPublic" width="268" height="87"></a> <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/5NkaSQoUERalaLBQAqUOcC"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/237984/original/file-20180925-149976-1ks72uy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=268&amp;fit=clip" width="268" height="82"></a> </p>
<h2>Additional audio</h2>
<p><a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Lee_Rosevere/The_Big_Loop_-_FML_original_podcast_score/Lee_Rosevere_-_The_Big_Loop_-_FML_original_podcast_score_-_10_A_List_of_Ways_to_Die">A List of Ways to Die</a>, Lee Rosevere, from Free Music Archive.</p>
<h2>Image</h2>
<p>AAP Image/Lukas Coch</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/111751/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Phelps describes Scott Morrison's proposal to reopen the Christmas Island detention facility as a "political statement".Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1116452019-02-13T02:34:02Z2019-02-13T02:34:02ZExplainer: how will the 'medevac' bill actually affect ill asylum seekers?<p>Both the House of Representatives and the Senate have now passed <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=r6069">amendments to the Migration Act 1958</a> that allow for the medical evacuation of asylum-seekers from Manus Island and Nauru. These amendments are also known as the medevac bill.</p>
<p>So, how will the situation for asylum seekers and refugees on Manus Island and Nauru change with the provisions in place?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/the-government-was-defeated-on-the-medevac-bill-but-that-does-not-mean-the-end-of-the-government-111635">The government was defeated on the 'medevac' bill, but that does not mean the end of the government</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What’s in the Bill?</h2>
<p>The medevac bill allows for the transfer of asylum seekers or refugees on Nauru or Manus Island to Australia for “medical or psychiatric assessment or treatment”. Family members will also be transferred if recommended.</p>
<p>It gives a clear pathway for medical specialists to make medical decisions. Two doctors must assess – either in person or remotely – the person and make the recommendation for transfer. The criteria used in the initial assessment and in any review is that the person:</p>
<ul>
<li>needs medical or psychiatric assessment or treatment</li>
<li>is not receiving appropriate medical or psychiatric assessment or treatment in Nauru or Manus Island, and</li>
<li>must be transferred for appropriate medical or psychiatric assessment or treatment.</li>
</ul>
<p>The recommendation is given to the Minister for Home Affairs who must either approve or refuse the transfer within 72 hours. The minister can refuse the transfer if the person has an adverse security assessment or if the person has a “substantial criminal record”. </p>
<p>The minister may also refuse the recommendation on the basis he does not accept the transfer is necessary on medical grounds. In those cases an expert medical panel – known as the Independent Health Advice Panel (IHAP) – would be formed to reassess the recommended transfer. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/morrison-government-defeated-on-medical-bill-despite-constitution-play-111636">Morrison government defeated on medical bill, despite constitution play</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>If the panel recommends the person’s transfer should be approved, the minister must transfer the person unless satisfied there are security or character grounds for refusing the transfer.</p>
<p>The panel will consist of at least eight members, including the Chief Medical Officer for the government, the Department of Home Affair’s Chief Medical Officer and the Surgeon-General of the Australian Border Force. Other members would be appointed by the minister based on nominations by various professional medical bodies.</p>
<p>Medical transfers to Australia are for a temporary period only, so those currently in Australia could still be returned to Nauru or Manus Island following their treatment. This will continue to be the case even now this bill is passed.</p>
<p>These procedures are only applicable to asylum seekers and refugees who are on Nauru and Manus Island currently. The law will not apply to anyone who comes after the passage of this bill. Anyone brought to Australia for medical treatment must be kept in onshore immigration detention.</p>
<h2>Three examples</h2>
<p>Medical transfers that <a href="https://www.msf.org.au/sites/default/files/attachments/indefinite_despair_3.pdf">have occurred to date</a> are mostly for psychiatric reasons or a combination of psychiatric and other medical reasons. The importance of provided, rapid medical assessment and response to critically ill, or at-risk-of-dying, refugees and asylum seekers cannot be overstated.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258642/original/file-20190213-90488-m17ytm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258642/original/file-20190213-90488-m17ytm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258642/original/file-20190213-90488-m17ytm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258642/original/file-20190213-90488-m17ytm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258642/original/file-20190213-90488-m17ytm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258642/original/file-20190213-90488-m17ytm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258642/original/file-20190213-90488-m17ytm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258642/original/file-20190213-90488-m17ytm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Under the provisions of the medevac bill, asylum seekers with medical or psychiatric conditions can be transferred to Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In August, 2014 a 24-year-old Iranian detainee on Manus Island, Hamid Khazaei, <a href="https://www.minterellison.com/articles/inquest-into-the-death-of-hamid-khazaei">fell ill and presented to clinicians</a> at the detention centre with “flu-like symptoms” and a small lesion on his leg. After a course of antibiotics, his condition deteriorated and he was transferred to a hospital in Papua New Guinea. He died a few days later. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.minterellison.com/articles/inquest-into-the-death-of-hamid-khazaei">coronial inquest</a> identified ambiguous and deficient policies for emergency evacuation, finding Mr Khazaei’s death was preventable. If his clinical deterioration was recognised and responded to in a timely manner, and he was evacuated to Australia within 24 hours of developing severe sepsis, Khazaei could have survived.</p>
<p>Medical evacuations are time sensitive because of the nature of the emergency and the logistics of the transfer itself. Were the provisions of the medevac bill in place at the time, independent expert overview of clinical decisions could have saved Khazaei’s life.</p>
<p>Another case was that of a <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/cth/FCA/2018/1432.html">refugee woman on Nauru</a> who attempted suicide. An order was made for her to be urgently transferred to Australia. This was based on reports from a psychiatrist and a surgeon who expressed concerns that, without urgent surgical intervention, she could develop peritonitis (a life-threatening inflammation resulting from her suicide attempt) and die. </p>
<p>This case was heard by the <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/cth/FCA/2018/1432.html">Federal Court</a> within four days of her attempt. Evidence demonstrated she needed complicated surgical intervention and psychiatric care that appeared not to be available on Nauru. Medical evacuation to Australia was requested as soon as possible, and the woman was brought to Australia.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/self-immolation-incidents-on-nauru-are-acts-of-hopeful-despair-58791">Self-immolation incidents on Nauru are acts of 'hopeful despair'</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>With the medevac provisions in place, the woman could have been brought to Australia earlier for an independent assessment of her physical and mental health prior to her situation deteriorating to a point where emergency management was required. The costs and delays involved in seeking intervention of the courts to order medical evacuations would also have been reduced with the provisions in place.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/cth/FCA/2018/1350.html">Another recent case</a> involved a 46-year-old refugee on Manus Island who had lost vision in his right eye after a traumatic injury during a riot on the island. Vision in his left eye was also deteriorating and there was a lack of appropriate treatment in PNG. His mental health had also deteriorated to a point where he was assessed as being at high risk of suicide.</p>
<p>The evidence was that Manus Island did not have adequate facilities to treat his physical deterioration and suicidality. The court ordered his transfer to Australia as soon as possible for assessment and treatment.</p>
<p>Again, this man could have been brought to Australia earlier for an independent assessment, prior to emergency life saving treatment being required. The bill’s provisions will now allow for this. This translates to continuity and consistency of care and reduced deadlocks over treatment decisions.</p>
<h2>Medical care can’t be political</h2>
<p>Aside from being a circuit breaker to current arrangements, the bill is a new opportunity to establish agreed governance arrangements and a clinical pathway for recognising and responding to medical need without political interference. In the past bureaucrats and politicians have invalidated medical evidence and clinical decision making processes. </p>
<p>To provide safe and high quality care to refugees and asylum seekers based on medically assessed need, independent medical experts must be provided with all available relevant information about the patient. Giving the best medical and health advice must be free from delay and political interference.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/111645/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicholas Procter has received funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council, Australian Research Council, Department of Home Affairs and Australian Red Cross. He has received sitting fees from the Department of Home Affairs. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mary Anne Kenny has received funding from the Australian Research Council. She has received sitting fees from the Department of Home Affairs.</span></em></p>A bill to allow for asylum seeker on Nauru and Manus Island to be transferred to Australia for medical and psychiatric treatment has passed both Houses. How will it change things for those detained?Nicholas Procter, Professor and Chair: Mental Health Nursing, University of South AustraliaMary Anne Kenny, Associate Professor, School of Law, Murdoch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1116662019-02-12T12:23:52Z2019-02-12T12:23:52ZView from the Hill: Shorten's victory will bring dangerous counter strikes from a desperate government<p>An extraordinary amount of hype and some confected hysteria preceded Tuesday’s vote on the medical transfer legislation.</p>
<p>The government threw everything at trying to avoid a defeat. In a last stand, it fell back on a constitutional argument – backed by
Solicitor-General advice - that carried no practical weight and was simply circumvented by the majority that passed the bill in the House of Representatives.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/crossbenchers-must-decide-between-something-or-nothing-on-medical-transfers-bill-111551">Crossbenchers must decide between something or nothing on medical transfers bill</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>While the government frantically attempted to thwart Labor and the crossbench, Scott Morrison also ran the line that he wasn’t that fussed. Afterwards he told a news conference: “Votes will come and votes will go, they do not trouble me.” That claim wouldn’t pass a fact check.</p>
<p>This was a big vote, and everyone knew it. Morrison operates a
minority government and Tuesday’s loss underscored that he can’t
automatically get his way. (Ironically, in the last days of Turnbull’s majority government, the threat of losing a House vote came from internal dissidents.)</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/the-government-was-defeated-on-the-medevac-bill-but-that-does-not-mean-the-end-of-the-government-111635">The government was defeated on the 'medevac' bill, but that does not mean the end of the government</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The next test for Morrison will be on whether the House agrees to
extra sitting days to discuss the measures from the banking royal
commission. For procedural reasons, this needs 76 votes, one more than the 75 required on the medical transfer bill. The government has been leaning heavily on Bob Katter, the crossbencher who will be the key.</p>
<p>While the government looked rattled as the votes on the medical
transfer bill proceeded, Labor was calm and steely.</p>
<p>For all the talk about Labor’s misjudgement on the issue, this week it has moved cautiously and methodically.</p>
<p>Originally pushed by the crossbench into taking a stand on
humanitarian grounds – the bill is based on a proposal from
independent Kerryn Phelps - Labor has sought to display compassion but contain the political risk.</p>
<p>Bill Shorten, knowing the danger, decided the version of the bill
coming from the Senate (which Labor had supported there) left the ALP too exposed. He flagged last week he’d like a “middle” course.</p>
<p>So the opposition came up with amendments to give the minister wider discretion and more time in making decisions, and to limit the application of the legislation to those on Nauru and Manus now. The latter change was to minimise the “pull” factor – the extent to which the new arrangement would encourage the people smugglers.</p>
<p>Then it was a matter of persuading the required six crossbenchers.
They accepted in the negotiations that a modified bill was better than nothing (though there was some Greens cavilling).</p>
<p>In the House, the ALP troops were kept carefully in check; the emotion was turned down; the speeches from the bill’s supporters were few and brief. Labor just wanted one thing in the chamber – a win. This wasn’t the time to grandstand.</p>
<p>The government, wounded and worried, is seeing this as one (albeit
major) battle in the long war to the election. Its spruikers will say that in defeat it has had a victory – that Labor has given the
Coalition ammunition for the campaign.</p>
<p>It’s true the bill has breathed new life into the border security
debate, but whether this will be enough to do Labor serious harm is an open question. `</p>
<p>The ALP is always vulnerable on boats. On the other hand, boats are lower in voters’ minds than they used to be.</p>
<p>The government will turn up the dial by announcing “contingency plans” against fresh arrivals. Morrison, having accused Shorten of
undermining offshore processing, is already moving on to the claim that he couldn’t be trusted to be strong on turnbacks.</p>
<p>Goodness knows how the politics would play out if a boat appeared on the horizon in the next few weeks. You can be sure, however, that the government would be quick to tell us about it, and point the finger at Shorten.</p>
<p>In all this, the bill itself (which has to go back to the Senate for a tick off on the amendments) should be kept in perspective.</p>
<p>The minister has a veto on “security” grounds, including being able to exclude anyone who has committed a major crime. The composition of the medical panel which would have the final say on other transfers is broad and balanced.</p>
<p>Probably, over a period, there would be a lot of transfers out of the 1000 people offshore. But there have already been nearly 900 (some after legal action). These transfers have amounted to a backdoor route into Australia. </p>
<p>If the legislation in the longer term opens that door a little wider, it will also be a way of “settling” people in Australia without acknowledging that is being done. </p>
<p>More of the same? Or a radical change? It depends how you look at it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/111666/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The government will turn up the dial by announcing “contingency plans” against fresh arrivals. Morrison is already moving on to the claim that Shorten couldn't be trusted to be strong on turnbacks.Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1113442019-02-11T19:15:27Z2019-02-11T19:15:27ZWe don't know how many asylum seekers are turned away at Australian airports<p>The immigration department doesn’t keep a record of how many people apply for asylum at Australian airports, and how many are turned away. Documents released under <a href="https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/policies_and_procedures_regardin#incoming-14213">Freedom of Information</a> show a lack of accountability and oversight by Australian immigration officials with regard to people who request asylum at airports. </p>
<p>This means the ultimate decision to admit or deny an asylum seeker entry into Australia rests with the Border Force official who interviews them. Without oversight, an asylum seeker could be turned away and sent back to a country where they may be at harm, after being interviewed behind closed doors and without access to lawyers.</p>
<p>Last week, ABC’s Four Corners reported that two Saudi women were turned back at Sydney Airport after letting customs officers know they intended to apply for asylum. This has <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-04/border-force-accused-of-targeting-saudi-women-traveling-alone/10768036">led to concerns</a> Australian Border Force officers may be deliberately targeting and blocking Saudi Arabian women, who they suspect may apply for asylum, from entering the country.</p>
<p>Until 2014, a person could apply for a <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/bd/bd1415a/15bd040">permanent protection visa</a> before being cleared at customs, also known as immigration clearance. However, <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/bd/bd1415a/15bd040">amendments passed in 2014</a> mean those stopped before being cleared can only apply for a three-year temporary protection visa or a five-year safe haven visa.</p>
<p>Had the two women not disclosed their intention to seek asylum at the airport, they would generally have been cleared at customs and allowed to enter Australia. They would be able to apply for a permanent protection visa after leaving the airport.</p>
<p>But by making an asylum claim at the airport, they were subsequently detained and then deported from Australia without a chance to apply for protection, or access to lawyers, in violation of Migration Act.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-04/border-force-accused-of-targeting-saudi-women-traveling-alone/10768036">ABC report</a> suggested at least 80 Saudi women have sought asylum in Australia in recent years, many of them fleeing Saudi Arabia’s male guardianship laws, which allow their husbands, fathers, brothers, uncles and sons to control their lives.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Baca juga:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/are-women-escaping-family-violence-overseas-considered-refugees-109509">Are women escaping family violence overseas considered refugees?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>A response from the Department of Home Affairs to a Freedom of Information request for the number of individuals who have made protection claims before, or at, immigration clearance at airports since 2008, said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>the location of the applicant in Australia at the time of lodgement … is not relevant to the assessment of the applicant’s asylum claims, and therefore is not recorded in the Department’s database. As such, the Department does not hold existing documents as falling in the scope of the request.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But this can’t be correct given the disparity between the safeguards available before and after an asylum seeker clears customs. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258179/original/file-20190211-174867-1nsfsmb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258179/original/file-20190211-174867-1nsfsmb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258179/original/file-20190211-174867-1nsfsmb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=387&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258179/original/file-20190211-174867-1nsfsmb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=387&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258179/original/file-20190211-174867-1nsfsmb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=387&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258179/original/file-20190211-174867-1nsfsmb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=486&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258179/original/file-20190211-174867-1nsfsmb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=486&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258179/original/file-20190211-174867-1nsfsmb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=486&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Asylum seekers who have passed through customs can appeal their application for protection if it is rejected in the first instance.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Australia has non-refoulement obligations under the <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/1951-refugee-convention.html">1951 Refugee Convention</a>, various <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=11&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=2ahUKEwins8GohLPgAhUJaI8KHV2xDOIQFjAKegQICRAC&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ohchr.org%2FDocuments%2FIssues%2FMigration%2FGlobalCompactMigration%2FThePrincipleNon-RefoulementUnderInternationalHumanRightsLaw.pdf&amp;usg=AOvVaw2OmHfjn4_PdtJdathcFztA">human rights treaties</a> and customary international law. These prohibit the return of asylum seekers to places where they would face certain types of persecution or harm. </p>
<p>This extends to returning asylum seekers to transit countries where they may fear harm, or be at risk of being returned to their home country where they fear harm.</p>
<p>As part of the non-refoulement obligation, Australia must fairly and efficiently assess the claims of any person who applies for asylum under its territory or jurisdiction. Australia may not remove, or refuse admission at the border to, an asylum-seeker while considering that individual’s claim. </p>
<p>The demarcation of immigration clearance zones, or international zones has no consequence to Australia’s obligations under international law.</p>
<p>The Department of Home Affairs sets out the procedures to follow when an asylum claim is made at immigration clearance. The policies – which cannot be accessed publicly, but we have provided <a href="https://imgur.com/a/81vHmiI">screenshots here</a> – require that “if the person raises protection related claims, the interviewing officer should interview the person for a second time and explore the protection claims”.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Baca juga:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/explainer-how-australia-decides-who-is-a-genuine-refugee-72574">Explainer: how Australia decides who is a genuine refugee</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>If the person “makes a <em>prima facie</em> protection claim that is not considered to be ‘far-fetched and fanciful’, they are considered to be a person who potentially engages Australia’s non‑refoulement obligations” and must be permitted to enter Australia.</p>
<p>We do not know whether the department followed its own policies in the case of the two Saudi women. The interviews took place behind closed doors, and the minister has not made a comment on the cases. Even if the policy was followed, it still leaves much discretion to the interviewing officer. </p>
<p>There are no clear standards that must be followed when determining whether a claim meets the threshold of not being “far-fetched and fanciful”. The words are not found in the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2019C00046">Migration Act</a>, or the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2018C00957">Migration Regulations</a>, which govern migration determinations.</p>
<p>If Australia returned these women without a proper consideration of their asylum claims, it will be in breach of its international obligations. The failure to keep or share these statistics compounds the lack of accountability.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/111344/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Asher Hirsch is a Senior Policy Officer at the Refugee Council of Australia.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Ghezelbash is a Special Counsel at the National Justice Project.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Regina Jefferies tidak bekerja, menjadi konsultan, memiliki saham, atau menerima dana dari perusahaan atau organisasi mana pun yang akan mengambil untung dari artikel ini, dan telah mengungkapkan bahwa ia tidak memiliki afiliasi selain yang telah disebut di atas.</span></em></p>Australia's immigration department doesn't keep a record of the number of people applying for asylum at airports. This means there is no oversight over the treatment of those seeking protection.Asher Hirsch, PhD Candidate, Monash UniversityDaniel Ghezelbash, Senior Lecturer, Macquarie Law School, Macquarie UniversityRegina Jefferies, Scientia PhD Scholar, UNSWLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1114172019-02-08T01:30:39Z2019-02-08T01:30:39ZVIDEO: Michelle Grattan on the backlash to the banking report and the medical transfer bill<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zp3uGmTUfDo?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</figure>
<p>University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor Deep Saini speaks with Michelle Grattan about the week in politics. They discuss the political implications of the royal commission report into banking, and the suspense as parliament returns around the refugee medical transfer legislation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/111417/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan owns shares in banks and other financial institutions</span></em></p>Deep Saini speaks with Michelle Grattan about the week in politics.Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1113762019-02-07T11:46:10Z2019-02-07T11:46:10ZGrattan on Friday: suspense over medical transfers bill goes down to the wire<p>The battle over the medical transfers legislation has become something of a thriller for political tragics.</p>
<p>The government is desperate to head off a defeat next week on the bill. That’s just elevated the issue.</p>
<p>If it had let the legislation, passed by the Senate, go to the House of Representatives last year, instead of staging a filibuster, the matter would be over. It wouldn’t be facing the unhelpful drama surrounding parliament’s resumption on Tuesday.</p>
<p>The Coalition is in minority government and has its back against the wall but this vote is not one of confidence. Its carriage wouldn’t lead to an early election. The poll will be in May, framed by the April 2 budget.</p>
<p>The amendments – based on a proposal advanced by independent Kerryn
Phelps - would allow medical transfers from Nauru and Manus on the
advice of two doctors. The minister could refuse the transfer on
security grounds, but any other rejection would go to a medical panel for reassessment and determination.</p>
<p>A key issue is the definition of “security”. In the legislation, this comes from the ASIO act, which focuses on national security
(terrorism, borders and the like), rather than including more
common-or-garden criminality.</p>
<p>Scott Morrison has leapt on this to declare the government would be
powerless to prevent a paedophile, rapist or murderer coming here.</p>
<p>But that raises the question: How many, if any, paedophiles, rapists and murderers are there among the people concerned?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/morrison-plays-scare-card-on-medical-transfer-bill-111284">Morrison plays scare card on medical transfer bill</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>We are only talking of a limited cohort – a thousand or so - about whom much is known. After all, they have been confined for the whole period of the Coalition government. Most of them have been found to be refugees.</p>
<p>So the government should be able to provide some facts here. But Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton’s office was unable to do so, though it noted media reports about alleged criminal activity by some individuals.</p>
<p>Even if there is a risk some criminals could be transferred, it should be remembered that transferees go straight into detention once they reach Australia. The minister has full discretion on whether they stay there, or are allowed into the community. That remains a very strong safeguard.</p>
<p>The Prime Minister also raises the spectre of “hundreds upon hundreds” of people being transferred very quickly – indeed, within weeks.</p>
<p>This sounds an exaggeration but even if it isn’t, the numbers would
not be such as to overwhelm the detention system in Australia, as is being suggested. There have already been lots of transfers – almost 900, it was reported this week - without that problem.</p>
<p>The amendments will be passed if they get support from Labor and all but one of the crossbench.</p>
<p>In its attempt to cajole the crossbench and bludgeon Labor the
government is using a mix of tactics.</p>
<p>At the start of the week there was an inducement – it would set up a medical assessment panel to review cases. But even Morrison admitted this was, in effect, little more than a comfort blanket – all power would remain with the government.</p>
<p>Then the government wheeled out the heavy ammunition, with The
Australian <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/immigration/phelps-medivac-bill-a-national-security-risk-asio-warns/news-story/87f684a1b3d38b2f08797abb3c47dce2">reporting</a> that a Home Affairs department brief, based on advice from ASIO and Australian Border Force, warned of the threat posed to the offshore processing policy by the amendments.</p>
<p>ASIO presumably would not be thanking the government for being dragged publicly into this very political row. (Rather bizarrely, since it was an obvious government “drop”, the Home Affairs department has referred the disclosure to the Australian Federal Police to assess.)</p>
<p>When ASIO and the AFP were moved under the umbrella of Home
Affairs (though both remain independent agencies) there were concerns about their being used politically.</p>
<p>This was surely an example of that happening.</p>
<p>While the police were not referred to in the Home Affairs advice, the president of the Australian Federal Police Association, Angela Smith, was quick on Thursday to say that “since being absorbed into the Home Affairs portfolio, the AFP has become politicised by being placed in a number of public compromising positions”.</p>
<p>As it throws everything at the fight over the amendments, the
government has been loose with its assertions. For example,
Dutton said that “doctors including Dr Bob Brown and Dr Richard Di Natale, potentially, can provide the advice”.</p>
<p>Well, no, actually, not those two. Both are qualified medicos but
neither is a registered practitioner now.</p>
<p>If the government feels it is on the rack over the amendments, Labor also is in an awkward position, and at least one of the independents finds herself in the spotlight.</p>
<p>Border security is always a vulnerable area for the ALP. In its
attack on the amendments the government is targeting the
opposition rather than the crossbenchers (some of whom it is lobbying more quietly and carefully).</p>
<p>Labor at this point is backing the legislation but Bill Shorten has
made it clear he would like to see a compromise he could support.</p>
<p>An obvious one would be to tweak the definition of the “security”
grounds in the bill.</p>
<p>Of course the opposition would want to embarrass the government in next week’s vote, however it is also understandable why Shorten might seek a politically acceptable middle road.</p>
<p>But while Labor needs to sandbag itself against government attack it must keep in mind the many in its own constituency who want a more compassionate position on refugees. If Shorten pulled his support for the bill without a very good reason, he would be in trouble with his own base.</p>
<p>In the event Labor holds firm, all eyes will be on independent Cathy McGowan, the crossbencher whose vote is still a question mark.</p>
<p>McGowan is retiring at the election after two terms. If the fate of
the legislation comes down to her, she’ll be facing the biggest
decision of her parliamentary career.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/111376/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>If the government feels it is on the rack over the amendments, Labor also is in an awkward position, and at least one of the independents finds herself in the spotlight.Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1067342019-02-06T12:39:18Z2019-02-06T12:39:18ZWhen unaccompanied young asylum seekers turn 18, many face an immigration cliff edge<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256362/original/file-20190130-108351-1jilj30.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">pixelheadphoto digitalskillet/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Every year, <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/assets/0004/4187/Children_in_the_Asylum_System_Aug_2018.pdf">2,000 to 3,000</a> children arrive in the UK alone, without parents or guardians, to seek asylum. They are provided with an education, support from social workers and often live with foster families. </p>
<p>If they aren’t granted refugee status upon arrival, they’re normally given a temporary period of leave to remain until they are 18. But as <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/stats">many</a> of these children aren’t granted refugee status before they turn 18, they face an immigration cliff edge as they approach their birthday.</p>
<p>Some who have outstanding asylum appeals can’t be deported until their appeal is resolved, but others are at imminent risk of detention. At this point, the protections and services they relied on as children can be suddenly removed, leaving them to face the threat of deportation and detention with little support. </p>
<p>My <a href="http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/17520/">research</a> interviewing unaccompanied young people shows the challenges those without refugee status face in the UK’s current <a href="https://theconversation.com/hostile-environment-the-uk-governments-draconian-immigration-policy-explained-95460">hostile immigration environment</a>. Those who have refugee status have their own struggles too. </p>
<p>An immediate problem for those without refugee status is the threat of being sent to a detention centre. Aziz*, one of the 18 young people I spoke to, recalled being taken to a deportation centre still wearing his school uniform and carrying his school bag. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I said ‘at least let me get changed’. I felt so ashamed. I don’t know what kind of thing this is. At least have respect for the school.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Systems that have protected, guided and educated people like Aziz can suddenly disappear, leaving them exposed to the hostility of the immigration system. Aziz’s social worker wasn’t able to help him while he was in detention: his legal right to live in the UK had expired, and with it, his right to a social worker. As another of my interviewees said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>When, in the past I was young, everyone helped me. Now I am an adult they can do nothing.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Aziz was eventually released. He still didn’t have refugee status and feared being returned to the detention centre at any time. He had missed months of school and was unable to complete his studies. </p>
<p>Disruptions in education were common among the young people I interviewed who reached 18 without refugee status. One young man had been waiting six years to take up a university place because his leave to remain in the UK expired when he was 18, just before he was due to start his studies. He’d spent those years in a cycle of appealing to the Home Office and waiting for any news, unable to work or continue his education.</p>
<p>The threat of deportation is very real. Another young man I interviewed, Kamal*, had been in the UK for ten years. He had a job, a place to live and was engaged. He didn’t have refugee status – but had been able to keep extending his stay after he turned 18. One day, when he was 24, he received a letter from the Home Office telling him he was no longer allowed to stay and could be deported. For Kamal, this was like landing on a snake in a real life game of snakes and ladders – he had slipped right back to the start. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>They let me stay because everyone feels bad for [the] young. Now you are older they don’t care. I have done all these things here and made my life here – but they should have sent me away the first time. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Missing their families</h2>
<p>While the young people I interviewed who had refugee status by the time they turned 18 didn’t worry about detention and deportation, they still faced challenges. Most of all, they wanted <a href="https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/tpp/frs/pre-prints/content-ppfrsda700050r3">to see their families again</a>. But even for those who were officially refugees, tight travel restrictions meant they were prevented from visiting family members. </p>
<p>One young man called Roshaan*, who got refugee status at aged 16, told me he was unable to return to Afghanistan to attend his brother’s funeral. It makes sense that people can’t return to the country they came from while seeking refuge from that country – it would be dangerous to return. But for Roshaan, the risk of a brief return to comfort his family in their grief would have been worth it. He explained it to me with a simple question: “What would you do if you hadn’t seen your family in six years?” </p>
<p>Of the young refugees I interviewed who had reached 18 and settled in the UK, many were preoccupied with plans to reunite with their families, to bring them to safety in the UK. Current UK policy doesn’t support family reunification for unaccompanied children, although some <a href="https://www.childrenslegalcentre.com/resources/refugee-family-reunification-child-at/">legal challenges</a> have been successful and <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-43428805">MPs are considering</a> changes to the law through an ongoing <a href="https://services.parliament.uk/bills/2017-19/refugeesfamilyreunionno2.html">private members bill</a> before parliament. </p>
<p>For one young man, Faizal*, the wait to reunite with his family from Afghanistan was difficult. He told me that “refugee status is like a jail”. He showed me a photograph of his two small siblings – all that remained of his immediate family. When I asked if he could imagine seeing them again, he said no. </p>
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<p>I want to see them grow up and learn. I want to see them now. They are there now. The process is a really long time and it’s still not finished.</p>
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<p><em>* Names have been changed to protect the anonymity of interviewees.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/106734/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kelly Devenney does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Some young people are taken to immigration detention as they approach their 18th birthday.Kelly Devenney, Lecturer in Social Work, University of YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1109862019-02-01T07:35:25Z2019-02-01T07:35:25ZBehrouz Boochani's literary prize cements his status as an Australian writer<p>When the author Richard Flanagan described Behrouz Boochani, a Kurdish-Iranian asylum seeker currently held on Manus Island, as “a great Australian writer”, he turned tired cliché into a pointed question: what makes an “Australian” writer? </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256812/original/file-20190201-103164-y03u6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=237&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256812/original/file-20190201-103164-y03u6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=909&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256812/original/file-20190201-103164-y03u6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=909&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256812/original/file-20190201-103164-y03u6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=909&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256812/original/file-20190201-103164-y03u6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=1142&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256812/original/file-20190201-103164-y03u6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=1142&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256812/original/file-20190201-103164-y03u6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=1142&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">No Friend But the Mountains by Behrouz Boochani.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pan Macmillan</span></span>
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<p>Flanagan was writing in the foreword to Boochani’s startling book <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39284186-no-friend-but-the-mountains?from_search=true">No Friend But the Mountains</a> (Picador), which last night won the $100,000 Victorian Prize for Literature, the richest of its kind in Australia. Boochani also claimed the award for non-fiction, worth another $25,000.</p>
<p>This triumph cements Boochani’s status as an Australian writer.</p>
<p>Boochani was arguably the most important literary phenomenon in Australian literature in 2018. In part, this is because of the distinctive qualities of No Friend But the Mountains, an epic work that moves between verse and prose, reportage and fantasy, the mundane and the historical. The fact that Boochani’s political memoir of what he calls Manus Prison was ever published in book form defies the odds. </p>
<p>A journalist and experimental documentary maker, Boochani wrote the book as text messages on his mobile phone, sending them, sometimes through several intermediaries, to the academic Omid Tofighian for translation into English.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/truth-to-power-my-time-translating-behrouz-boochanis-masterpiece-101589">Truth to power: my time translating Behrouz Boochani’s masterpiece</a>
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<p>Indeed, beyond the recognition of Boochani’s book as a singular achievement in its own right, its success this week highlights recent intersections of human rights activism and the vocal political position-taking of the Australian literary community.</p>
<p>The publication of No Friend But the Mountains was accompanied by numerous public events, such as one at the <a href="https://www.greekcommunity.com.au/gocmv_public/index.php/eventlist/details/653-engaging-w-behrouz-boochanis-qno-friend-but-the-mountainsq">Greek Centre in Melbourne</a> in October 2018, where the conditions detailed in the book were discussed and protested, and Boochani participated via Skype. The same month, A “National Day of Action” organised by <a href="https://academicsforrefugees.wordpress.com/">Academics for Refugees</a> featured public “read-ins” of the book on university campuses nationwide. </p>
<p>Other Australian authors have also used their voices to bring attention to the plight of asylum seekers. During her acceptance speech for her second Miles Franklin Award in August 2018, Michelle de Kretser chastised politicians for their treatment of refugees on Nauru and Manus Island. To <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/michelle-de-kretser-wins-her-second-miles-franklin-award-20180824-h14hcu.html">illustrate her point</a>, she read a list of names of asylum seekers who have died there in the past five years.</p>
<p>It is tempting to dismiss such actions as gesture politics by an urban elite. But each individual action has served to raise awareness of the Australian government’s policy of “offshore processing” for asylum seekers, and to fuse artistic expression with political activism in a particularly forceful manner. </p>
<p>At the same time, and perhaps uniquely in the history of Australian literature, No Friend has seen the translation of human rights awards into convertible cultural capital in the literary field. The author has been awarded the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/oct/05/behrouz-boochani-wins-anna-politkovskaya-award-for-manus-island-writing">Anna Politkovskaya Award</a>, the<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/nov/02/behrouz-boochani-wins-amnesty-international-award-for-writing-from-manus"> Amnesty International Award</a> and Liberty Victoria’s <a href="https://libertyvictoria.org.au/content/voltaire-2018-behrouz-boochani">Empty Chair Award</a>. These humanitarian awards have confirmed Boochani’s rapidly acquired high profile in the literary field. </p>
<p>Last night’s news topped all of that to make Boochani the first “non-Australian” author to win the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards. The Victorian government established these awards in 1985 to honour Australian writing. The specific challenge this poses to the definition of “Australian writing” can be seen as an intervention by the literary community into the field of politics. If a non-citizen who has never set foot on mainland Australia can win, who counts as an Australian author? </p>
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Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/book-review-behrouz-boochanis-unsparing-look-at-the-brutality-of-manus-island-101520">Book Review: Behrouz Boochani's unsparing look at the brutality of Manus Island</a>
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<p>Ironically, perhaps, Boochani’s success simply mirrors some of the prevailing trends in Australian authorship in an age of global literary circulation, which allow writers to transcend national borders. An example of this phenomenon is Nam Le who rose to fame with the publication of his very successful <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2599523-the-boat">The Boat</a>. This collection of short stories, informed by the author’s diasporic identity and upbringing in Australia, soon earned him over a dozen major literary awards in Australia, the United States and Europe. </p>
<p>Conversely, Boochani’s status on Manus Island has been defined by deterrence, indefinite detention and the spectre of refoulement. The narrative of this experience is one that he seeks to address directly to the Australian people from beyond Australia’s borders. </p>
<p>With no clear solution to the indefinite detention of asylum seekers on Manus and Nauru in sight, the paradox of Boochani’s award success can only contribute further to public debate over the tangled logic of indefinite detention. It shows how cultural practices and political activism can be reconfigured to correspond with the newly created literary currency associated with refugee writing. For now, at least, Boochani is an “Australian writer” because Australia is morally implicated in what he wrote and how he wrote it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/110986/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Behrouz Boochani, an asylum seeker currently detained on Manus Island, has won Australia's richest literary prize. The win commands the question, 'what makes an Australian writer?'Keyvan Allahyari, PhD candidate in English, University of MelbournePaul Rae, Associate Professor, English and Theatre Studies, University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1104142019-01-30T11:52:52Z2019-01-30T11:52:52ZEurope's refugee crisis explains why border walls don't stop migration<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256135/original/file-20190129-127151-isr8h4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Migrants on a ship intercepted offshore near the Libyan town of Gohneima, east of the capital Tripoli, in July 2018.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/United-Nations-Deadly-Crossings/18c211ddbbf44b2ca5183939b556af80/15/0">Libyan Coast Guard via AP, File</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>President Trump has long called migration a <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/donald-trump-immigration-address-transcript-227614">security crisis</a>, but in recent weeks he has also referred to the situation along the southern border as a <a href="http://time.com/5497569/donald-trump-oval-office-address-transcript/">humanitarian crisis</a>.</p>
<p>As he ended the government shutdown in a televised speech on Jan. 25, Trump reiterated his <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/19/politics/trump-address-immigration-shutdown/index.html">claim</a> that a border wall between the United States and Mexico would save the lives of Central American migrants, many of whom are women and children. </p>
<p>“Walls work,” he <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/19/politics/trump-address-immigration-shutdown/index.html">said</a>. “They save good people from attempting a very dangerous journey from other countries.”</p>
<p>As my <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=83Lb0dwAAAAJ&amp;hl=en">doctoral research</a> into Europe’s 2015-2016 <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1536504218776959">refugee crisis</a> shows, however, stricter border control doesn’t stop migration. Often, it makes it more dangerous.</p>
<h2>Open arms or closed borders?</h2>
<p>An estimated <a href="http://www.pewglobal.org/2016/08/02/number-of-refugees-to-europe-surges-to-record-1-3-million-in-2015/">1.3 million migrants</a> entered the European Union in 2015 — more than double the year before. They were seeking asylum protection from war, conflict and extreme poverty.</p>
<p>To put that figure in context, just <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/01/16/border-apprehensions-of-migrant-families-have-risen-substantially-so-far-in-2018/">half-a-million migrants</a> — including asylum-seekers, who typically give themselves up to border agents — were apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2018.</p>
<p><iframe id="pTk8M" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/pTk8M/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Most of Europe’s migrants came from Syria, Afghanistan or Iraq. Generally, these asylum-seekers entered the European Union via Turkey, crossing Macedonia, Serbia and other <a href="https://reliefweb.int/map/world/western-balkans-route-refugeemigration-crisis-echo-daily-map-03092015">Balkan countries</a> by foot. </p>
<p>Well over 100,000 migrants from <a href="http://www.pewglobal.org/2016/08/02/1-asylum-seeker-origins-a-rapid-rise-for-most-countries/">sub-Saharan African countries</a> reached southern Europe by sea in 2015, crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa.</p>
<p>Overwhelmed with these increased arrivals, national governments in Europe took dramatically different approaches to managing their borders.</p>
<p>Germany <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34108224">threw its doors open</a>. Almost <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-migrants-germany-idUSKCN1201KY">900,000 migrants</a> arrived there in 2015 after the country <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/germany-suspends-dublin-rules-for-syrians/a-18671698">suspended an EU rule</a> requiring that migrants apply for asylum in the first EU country they set foot in. </p>
<p>Migrants arriving at southern nations like Greece and Italy generally <a href="http://www.migrationpolicycentre.eu/greece/">hoped</a> to <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/emigration-asylum-destination-italy-navigates-shifting-migration-tides">continue north</a> to Germany. </p>
<p>Greece, however, was unable to process the <a href="https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/mediterranean/location/5179">more than 850,000 migrants</a> who arrived to its shores in 2015. It built holding camps on its Aegean islands, where people stayed in <a href="https://www.refworld.org/country,,UNHCR,,GRC,,59b2663c4,0.html">overcrowded, often inhospitable conditions</a> for up to <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/12/refugees-greece-reflect-year-waiting-171226173758364.html">two years</a> as their <a href="https://www.asylumineurope.org/reports/country/greece/asylum-procedure/procedures/regular-procedure">asylum claims</a> were processed.</p>
<p>Other EU governments were openly hostile to refugees. Across Eastern Europe, countries along the Balkan route began to build and extend border barriers. </p>
<p>Europe had five border walls in 2014, built following the 1985 <a href="https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/schengen-agreement/">Schengen agreement</a> amid concerns about immigration at the bloc’s external borders. By 2017, it had <a href="https://www.tni.org/en/publication/building-walls">15 barriers</a>, according to the not-for-profit Transnational Institute, and a heavily <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/sites/homeaffairs/files/what-we-do/policies/securing-eu-borders/fact-sheets/docs/20161006/eu_operations_in_the_mediterranean_sea_en.pdf">patrolled</a> maritime border. </p>
<p>Hungary, perhaps the EU’s least immigrant-friendly country, built a <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/hungary-completes-second-fence-to-keep-out-migrants/a-38632459">high-tech fence</a> that uses thermal detection and cameras to monitor movement, with speakers that blare warnings in five languages.</p>
<h2>Walls make migration more dangerous</h2>
<p>Border walls have not stopped migration into Europe.</p>
<p>Tens of thousands of migrants <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/30/tens-of-thousands-migrate-through-balkans-since-route-declared-shut">still cross the Balkans</a> to reach the EU each year – they just do so in <a href="https://www.msf.org/push-backs-violence-and-inadequate-conditions-balkan-routes-new-frontier">more dangerous</a> conditions.</p>
<p>Before the walls, migrants traveled in groups, with or without the help of smugglers. </p>
<p>Now, paying a smuggler is the only way for migrants to <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/closed-borders-boost-people-smuggling-across-balkans/a-41467977">avoid border guards and pass barriers</a>. For several thousand dollars, smugglers bribe EU border agents, <a href="http://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/7641/new-trafficking-hubs-emerge-in-the-balkans">hide migrants in trucks</a> or walk them across EU borders <a href="https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/research-subject-groups/centre-criminology/centreborder-criminologies/blog/2018/02/europes-waiting">under cover of darkness</a>. </p>
<p>Europe’s <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369183X.2017.1348224">refugee crisis</a> has now become a <a href="https://brill.com/view/journals/emil/19/4/article-p335_335.xml">housing crisis</a>. </p>
<p>At least 10,000 migrants now live in <a href="https://www.msf.fr/sites/default/files/out_of_sight_130218.pdf">homeless encampments or squats</a> across Italy. And after the French refugee camp known as “<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09581596.2017.1335860?needAccess=true">The Calais Jungle</a>” was demolished in 2016, nearly as many people scattered to makeshift camps or <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/17/paris-uk-migrants-attacks-abuse-study">the streets of French cities</a>. </p>
<h2>Stopping migrants before they arrive</h2>
<p>Italy, where most refugees arrive by boat from North Africa, has tried to keep migrants out in a different way: It outsources its border security.</p>
<p>In 2017, Italy <a href="https://www.repubblica.it/esteri/2017/02/02/news/migranti_accordo_italia-libia_ecco_cosa_contiene_in_memorandum-157464439/?refresh_ce">struck</a> a deal to supply the Libyan coast guard with vessels and anti-smuggling training. The agreement promised <a href="https://euobserver.com/migration/140067">US$325 million</a> if Libyan agents would intercept migrants crossing the Mediterranean and return them to Libyan detention centers. </p>
<p>Human rights organizations have <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/european-rights-chief-questions-italys-migrant-deals-with-libya/a-40916702">questioned</a> the deal, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/17/world/europe/italy-libya-migrant-crisis.html">citing</a> Libya’s political unrest and documented history of <a href="https://www.cnn.com/specials/africa/libya-slave-auctions">migrant enslavement and torture</a>. Returning migrants to detention centers in Libya may also <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-migrants-libya/migrants-return-to-libya-by-italian-boat-could-breach-international-law-u-n-idUSKBN1KL1K4">violate international law</a>, since refugees <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/08/italy-deal-with-libya-pull-back-migrants-faces-legal-challenge-human-rights-violations">cannot be kept safe there</a>.</p>
<p>In my own interviews with African migrants in Italy who’d crossed the Sahara to Libya, many told me that they eventually boarded a boat there not as a final step toward Europe, but to escape imprisonment or torture in Libya. </p>
<p>Libyan coast guard boats have left many migrants <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/12/26/opinion/europe-migrant-crisis-mediterranean-libya.html">stranded</a> at sea. In September 2018, when a boat carrying 100 migrants capsized, Italy and Libya <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/11/world/africa/mediterranean-migrants-drowned.html">blamed one other</a> for the failed rescue.</p>
<p>Libya’s deterrence mission conflicts with the rescue operations of aid boats that bring migrants to Europe. Italy says rescues invite more migration, despite <a href="https://theconversation.com/debunking-myths-about-why-people-migrate-across-the-mediterranean-77814">research</a> <a href="https://blamingtherescuers.org/report/">disproving this claim</a>. </p>
<p>Last June, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/06/refugees-migrants-board-aquarius-set-foot-spain-180617054409193.html">629 migrants</a>, including 123 unaccompanied minors and seven pregnant women, were held at sea for over a week, unable to seek asylum or aid. </p>
<p>Malta, Spain and France have since repeatedly <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/20180925-france-aquarius-migrant-ship-cannot-dock-port-marseille-french-minister-le-maire-says">closed their ports</a> to rescue vessels, refusing to bear responsibility for the migrants on board. </p>
<h2>Lessons for the US</h2>
<p>Irregular migration to Europe did decrease last year, primarily because <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/data-hub/charts/asylum-applications-euefta-country-2008-2017?width=1000&amp;height=850&amp;iframe=true">fewer Syrians are fleeing</a> their war-torn country. More migrants – <a href="http://www.globaldtm.info/Libya/">nearly 700,000 people</a> – are also being detained in Libya. </p>
<p>Migrant routes into the EU also continue to shift in response to closing borders. Spain, for example, has seen <a href="https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/mediterranean/location/5226">sea arrivals increase tenfold since 2015</a>.</p>
<p>In my assessment, Trump’s crackdown along the U.S.-Mexico border will have similar results. There are signs of this already.</p>
<p>A decades-old U.S. policy of <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/684775/summary">paying Mexico</a> to secure its southern border with Guatemala to keep Central American migrants out has merely made <a href="https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/GLOSOM_2018_web_small.pdf">the journey riskier</a>, according to a 2018 United Nations report.</p>
<p>To avoid apprehension by Mexican border patrol, some migrants get from Guatemala to Mexico by water, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/sep/15/migrants-mexico-human-trafficking-us-immigration-crackdown">on boats</a> that are often operated by traffickers.</p>
<p>As in Europe, migrants now increasingly rely on smugglers to get across the U.S.-Mexico border, who may charge <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/06/30/world/smuggling-illegal-immigration-costs.html">more than $10,000</a> per family. </p>
<p>That does not guarantee safe passage. Between August and October last year, smugglers <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/oct/11/migrants-abandoned-desert-smugglers-arizona-desert">abandoned more than 1,400 migrants</a>, including children, in the sweltering Arizona desert. Hoping to find safety in <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-does-the-migrant-caravan-exist-and-how-did-it-come-to-be-105781">large groups</a>, more migrants are now <a href="https://theconversation.com/dozens-of-migrants-disappear-in-mexico-as-central-american-caravan-pushes-northward-106287">traveling in caravans</a>.</p>
<p>As the U.S. and the EU struggle to resolve their border crises, migrants <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/sais.2017.0029">will continue to flee</a> their home countries seeking protection. Heightened border control certainly won’t make them safer.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/110414/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eleanor Paynter does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>After 1.3 million migrants from the Middle East and Africa came to Europe in 2015, many countries built fences or closed their ports. That has pushed migrants to take riskier routes into the EU.Eleanor Paynter, PhD Candidate, Comparative Studies, The Ohio State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1097512019-01-28T13:35:58Z2019-01-28T13:35:58ZCentre-left Italian mayors are refusing to implement a government decree targeting migrants<p>Around 500 people will <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/23/italy-evicts-more-than-500-people-refugee-centre-near-rome">be evicted</a> from a large refugee reception centre in Castelnuovo di Porto, a town close to Rome, before the end of January. The move follows the adoption of a new “<a href="http://www.gazzettaufficiale.it/eli/id/2018/10/04/18G00140/sg">security decree</a>” in early December 2018 by the Italian parliament, which reduces the rights of migrants and asylum seekers. </p>
<p>The decree was spearheaded by Matteo Salvini, the deputy prime minister and leader of the right-wing Northern League, currently governing Italy in coalition with the populist 5 Star Movement, led by the prime minister, Giuseppe Conte. </p>
<p>But while some areas of Italy are complying with the new decree, a number of mayors and regional authorities have refused to implement it. On January 2, the centre-left mayor of the Sicilian city of Palermo, Leoluca Orlando, <a href="https://www.thelocal.it/20190102/sicilian-mayor-defies-salvini-on-residency-terms-for-migrants">announced his intention</a> not to apply the decree. Other “disobedient” mayors have quickly followed suit. So too have entire regions – especially those run by the centre-left Democratic Party, such as Tuscany, Emilia Romagna, Umbria and Piedmont.</p>
<p>Orlando said the decree was “<a href="https://it.euronews.com/2019/01/04/orlando-in-piazza-difendo">inhuman and criminogenic</a>” as it makes migrants – including children and those on a work permit – irregular, and excessively interferes with their human rights. The mayor ordered the chief of the Palermo Register Office not to apply the part of the new decree that stops migrants with a residence permit from registering with the municipality. Such registration provides access to services, including health care, job centres and schooling – all of which would be denied to migrants should the decree be applied. </p>
<p>Centre-left mayors in Naples, Florence, Parma, Pescara and Reggio Calabria have also refused to implement the security decree. Now, some of the regions run by centre-left parties are considering <a href="http://www.ansa.it/english/news/politics/2019/01/08/marche-mulling-appeal-on-security-decree_f5c108b1-0f5c-46b9-b286-0c5ca22eeea5.html">bringing the matter to the attention</a> of Italy’s Constitutional Court. They argue that the decree legislates on matters that, under the constitution, belong to regional competences – in particular, public health, vocational training and right to education.</p>
<p>As well as depriving migrants of basic services and fundamental rights, the decree also abolishes the two-year residence permit for humanitarian reasons. This was given to migrants whose asylum claim was rejected but for various reasons such as their health, or serious poverty in their country of origin, would not be forced to return. </p>
<p>The decree also closes the System of Protection of Asylum Seekers and Refugees (or SPRARs) to asylum seekers. These are places where migrants usually benefit from ad-hoc programmes to facilitate their integration, such as Italian language courses or vocational training. From now on, SPRARs will only be open to unaccompanied children and those whose asylum application has been successful – not to migrants waiting for a decision on their asylum application and whose residence permit for humanitarian reasons has expired.</p>
<p>According to the Italian Institute for International Political Studies, this is <a href="https://www.ispionline.it/en/publication/new-irregulars-italy-21813">likely to result in</a> an increase in the number of migrants living on Italian territory irregularly – and in their possible engagement in criminal activities. In order to survive, they may take on undocumented work – which is itself illegal – or end up exploited by criminal networks. The decree also gives local authorities more power to criminalise “unwanted” people, such as the homeless or squatters in empty buildings, and ban them from public spaces. This may criminalise migrants even further.</p>
<h2>Excluding by decree</h2>
<p>Such harsh security provisions targeting migrants are not exclusive to right-wing political parties in Italy – centre-left governments have also used them. In late February 2017, the centre-left government of Paolo Gentiloni adopted two decrees: one to deal with <a href="http://www.gazzettaufficiale.it/eli/id/2017/02/17/17G00026/sg">migration</a> and one to address the issue of <a href="http://www.gazzettaufficiale.it/eli/id/2017/02/20/17G00030/sg">security in cities</a>. One of the effects allowed municipalities to adopt administrative orders to protect the “decorum”, the “urban liveability” and the “peace and quiet of residents”, and to ban people from certain city areas. </p>
<p>Such language, as our research has <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1756061617301209">illustrated</a>, went against a 2011 ruling by the Constitutional Court, ordering legislators to avoid vague legal formulations that result in very broad powers for local authorities. In the past, such powers <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781317360230/chapters/10.4324/9781315668147-11">have been used</a> by local authorities <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781317360209/chapters/10.4324%2F9781315668130-8">run by both right and left-wing</a> political parties to excessively penalise harmless yet undesired behaviour, or the unwanted presence in public spaces of people such as Roma people, beggars, sex workers and refugees. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/why-italian-courts-are-struggling-to-protect-peoples-freedom-in-public-spaces-74879">Why Italian courts are struggling to protect people's freedom in public spaces</a>
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<h2>Local realities</h2>
<p>This time, however, local authorities led mostly by <a href="http://www.vita.it/it/article/2019/01/08/i-comuni-resistenti-al-dl-sicurezza-sono-piu-di-100-la-storia-della-ma/150278/">centre-left parties</a> are worried about the impact the government’s new security decree will have on their local areas. What they don’t want to happen is more migrants, made irregular by the new decree, on their streets with no access to health care, jobs and schooling. </p>
<p>The mayors would rather focus on integration, rather than repression. They have expressed these concerns through their association, the <a href="http://www.anci.it/index.cfm?layout=dettaglio&amp;IdSez=821212&amp;IdDett=65511">ANCI</a>, which is currently discussing workable solutions with the prime minister to reduce the number of migrants who will be made “irregular” by the new security decree. </p>
<p>At the centre of this issue is a disjunction between the government – and the Northern League in particular – and the realities of local politics. While the government wants to show the electorate it is taking a firm stance against migration, local administrators need to deal with migrants on a daily basis – and do not want to unnecessarily criminalise them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/109751/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In acts of civil disobedience, some centre-left mayors and regional authorities are resisting a government-level clampdown on asylum seekers.Anna Di Ronco, Lecturer in Criminology, University of EssexMarco Calaresu, Assistant Professor of Political Science and Public Policy Analysis, University of SassariLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1105442019-01-27T14:53:20Z2019-01-27T14:53:20ZCanada's disturbing indifference to the plight of Venezuelans<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255610/original/file-20190125-108361-19iguyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An anti-government protester covers her face with a Venezuelan flag, and uses toothpaste around her eyes to help lessen the effect of tear gas, during clashes with security forces after a rally demanding the resignation of President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Fernando Llano)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Canada has been at the forefront accepting asylum seekers from war-torn countries like Syria. </p>
<p>Prime Minister Justin Trudeau <a href="https://twitter.com/justintrudeau/status/825438460265762816?s=21">famously tweeted:</a> “To those fleeing persecution, terror and war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength.”</p>
<p>Since 2015, <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/01/29/where-displaced-syrians-have-resettled/">Canada has accepted</a> almost 52,000 Syrian refugees, the largest amount outside of Europe and the Middle East. And yet Canada’s voice has been decidedly more muted regarding another humanitarian disaster closer to home: Venezuela.</p>
<p><a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/4851670/trudeau-venezuela-maduro-brazil-bolsonaro/">Trudeau has recognized</a> that there is “a humanitarian crisis the likes of which South America has not seen in a long time” because of “an extreme number of refugees fleeing all across South America all because of an illegitimate dictator named Maduro.” </p>
<p>Canada, as member of the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-election-limagroup/lima-group-says-does-not-recognize-venezuelas-election-idUSKCN1IM19G">Lima Group</a> of Latin American countries, has <a href="https://international.gc.ca/world-monde/international_relations-relations_internationales/latin_america-amerique_latine/2019-01-04-lima_group-groupe_lima.aspx?lang=eng">forcefully condemned</a> the Venezuelan regime. It’s also <a href="https://www.international.gc.ca/world-monde/international_relations-relations_internationales/sanctions/venezuela.aspx?lang=eng">imposed sanctions</a> on leaders of the government.</p>
<p>Canada has also joined with several other western states <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/canada-recognizes-new-self-declared-leader-of-venezuela-1.4265969">in recognizing Juan Guaido</a> as the newly self-declared leader of Venezuela and calling for quick elections.</p>
<p>But greater action is needed.</p>
<h2>A stain on Canada</h2>
<p>Disturbing reports of the Canadian government making travel <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/venezuela-visa-canada-hussen-1.4685689">more difficult</a> for Venezuelans because of the crisis is a stain on Canada’s otherwise positive humanitarian record. </p>
<p>Trudeau should instead be easing entry requirements for Venezuelans seeking refuge in Canada.</p>
<p>Venezuela was once an economically prosperous and stable democracy. After 20 years of economic mismanagement and a gradual dismantling of democratic institutions, Venezuela is the most authoritarian and poorest country in South America. </p>
<p>Haphazard policy-making and corruption have caused the country’s GDP to decline by a staggering <a href="https://blogs.imf.org/2019/01/25/latin-america-and-the-caribbean-in-2019-a-moderate-expansion/">50 per cent</a> since 2014. Shortages of goods and the rampant printing of money has led to hyperinflation, with the International Monetary Fund <a href="https://in.reuters.com/article/venezuela-economy/imf-sees-venezuela-inflation-at-10-million-percent-in-2019-idINKCN1MJ1YX">estimating</a> it will reach 10 million per cent in 2019. </p>
<p>To make matters worse, Venezuela currently ranks as one of the most dangerous countries <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-crime/venezuela-murder-rate-dips-partly-due-to-migration-monitoring-group-idUSKCN1OQ1GJ">in the world</a>.</p>
<p>Estimates also indicate the average Venezuelan <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-food/venezuelans-report-big-weight-losses-in-2017-as-hunger-hits-idUSKCN1G52HA">has lost</a> 24 pounds in recent years. Poor nutrition is compounded by <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/11/15/venezuela-numbers-highlight-health-crisis">a collapsing</a> health-care system, with previously eradicated diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis making reappearances, threatening public health in the broader region.</p>
<p>Perhaps most concerning is that over the past three years, an estimated <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/news/press/2018/11/5be4192b4/number-refugees-migrants-venezuela-reaches-3-million.html">three million</a> people, or 10 per cent of the total population, have fled Venezuela to neighbouring countries.</p>
<h2>Why not Canada?</h2>
<p>Colombia <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/10/01/venezuelas-collapse-threatens-colombias-hard-won-stability/">accepts upwards</a> of 10,000 Venezuelans per day, even though it struggles to provide security and basic services for its own citizens. In far-flung Argentina, Venezuelans constitute <a href="https://www.infobae.com/politica/2018/08/06/en-lo-que-va-del-ano-los-venezolanos-pasaron-a-liderar-la-ola-migratoria-en-la-argentina/">25 per cent</a> of all migrants, or 70,000 individuals in first seven months of 2018 alone. </p>
<p>Canada, in comparison, which is half the distance from Argentina for Venezuelans, accepted <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/venezuela-visa-canada-hussen-1.4685689">a paltry</a> 388 refugee claims in 2017. In the first three months of 2018, there were 287 cases of Venezuelans referred to the Immigration and Refugee Board. Of the cases finalized in that period, 100 were approved and 76 were turned down.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255611/original/file-20190125-108367-mdcxvn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=237&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255611/original/file-20190125-108367-mdcxvn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=865&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255611/original/file-20190125-108367-mdcxvn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=865&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255611/original/file-20190125-108367-mdcxvn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=865&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255611/original/file-20190125-108367-mdcxvn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=1087&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255611/original/file-20190125-108367-mdcxvn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=1087&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255611/original/file-20190125-108367-mdcxvn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=1087&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Maduro is seen at the Venezuelan Supreme Court recently.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)</span></span>
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<p>The scale of migration from Venezuela has now reached a point where Canada needs to do more to help mitigate the worst humanitarian crisis in the Americas in living memory. </p>
<p>Even if Nicolás Maduro’s regime ultimately fails, the current economic and social damage is so extensive that it will take many years and hundreds of billions of dollars for Venezuela to merely recover. In light of these facts, the exodus is likely going to continue for quite some time.</p>
<p>Trudeau’s humanitarian-based approach to immigration policy has proven quite popular with the broader Canadian public, with almost <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2018/09/19/nearly-three-quarters-of-canadians-support-taking-in-refugees-poll-shows.html">three-quarters</a> of respondents supporting this position on refugees in a recent poll conducted by the Pew Research Center, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. </p>
<p>Scholars have also emphasized that refugees and migrants overwhelmingly benefit the countries that welcome them.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/how-atlantic-canadas-businesses-are-trying-to-attract-immigrants-95731">How Atlantic Canada's businesses are trying to attract immigrants</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>The political and economic crisis in Venezuela can no longer by outsourced or ignored by Canada. </p>
<p>We must live up to our values and open our doors to the people of Venezuela.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This is a corrected version of a story originally published Jan. 27, 2019. The earlier story misstated the number of Syrian refugees to Canada.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/110544/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Canada has been considered a human rights champion when it comes to accepting Syrian refugees. So why is it doing next to nothing for those fleeing Venezuela?Charles Larratt-Smith, PhD Candidate, University of TorontoNicolás Saldías, Researcher at the Wilson Center, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1101162019-01-24T16:44:31Z2019-01-24T16:44:31ZSamos: grim winter leads to protests by refugees living in limbo on Greek island<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255159/original/file-20190123-135151-odzxf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The &#39;jungle&#39; camp on Samos. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Samos Volunteers</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As winter took its toll in January on the Aegean island of Samos, the refugee population stuck there have <a href="https://www.pressenza.com/2019/01/protests-on-samos-demands-for-rights-freedom-and-healthcare/">held peaceful protests</a> against their conditions. But tensions are rising.</p>
<p>The weather on Samos, a Greek island off the Turkish coast, is chaotic and ever changing. When we were <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/child-refugees_uk_5b503e8fe4b0fd5c73c24176">there in July 2018</a>, we experienced temperatures in the high 30s with limited protection from the sun and the heat. Now, the winter weather alternates from freezing cold, to torrential rain, to thunderstorms – all in the same day. The weather is not a problem that can be solved for the refugees living here, but the international response to it can, and should be improved. </p>
<p>We have returned to the island as part of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ACEIRAesthetics/">our ongoing research</a> into the nature of support provided to the refugee population – which has fluctuated over the past six months with estimates ranging between 4,000 and 5,000 people, depending on who you speak to. The island’s refugee camp is located on the boundaries of the town of Vathy, which has an <a href="https://www.in2greece.com/greekislands/samos.htm">estimated population</a> of 5,575 people. </p>
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<p>The refugee reception centre is run by the <a href="https://www.firstreception.gov.gr/index.php?lang=en">Greek Reception and Identification Service</a> and has a capacity of 700 people. But as the number of refugees has rapidly increased, the majority of people now live outside of its fences. They are often a 15 minute walk from toilets or showers – the <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2018/11/15/refugees-pushed-edge-survival-greek-island-samos/8UvQngBU5cKuavGNbXli0N/story.html">conditions of which are getting worse</a> – and living in tents that are, in many cases, damaged and incapable of surviving the conditions, in an area referred to as the “jungle”. </p>
<h2>Dangerous conditions</h2>
<p>Like the main reception centre, the “jungle” is built on a steep muddy hill, which becomes even more muddy and dangerous when it rains and provides very little protection from the elements. Our ongoing research reveals that people struggle to sleep in these conditions, they are cold and wet, or wake up to find rats in their tents. There are not enough ponchos on the island, nor are there enough shoes and socks and as a result people continue to get sick. In January, a bout of the flu was going around the island, most likely a result of the conditions.</p>
<p>Voluntary organisations are working hard to respond to the conditions. Constantly battling one crisis after another, organisations such as <a href="https://samosvolunteers.org/">Samos Volunteers</a> provide a space for classes, a laundry service, as well as a centre that is warm and dry with a constant supply of tea. Up until now the international response has been sadly lacking. But more NGOs are now coming to the island, and we know of three that set up on the island in January. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/254803/original/file-20190121-100276-1s92sj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/254803/original/file-20190121-100276-1s92sj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=282&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254803/original/file-20190121-100276-1s92sj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=282&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254803/original/file-20190121-100276-1s92sj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=282&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254803/original/file-20190121-100276-1s92sj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=354&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254803/original/file-20190121-100276-1s92sj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=354&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254803/original/file-20190121-100276-1s92sj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=354&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">We are Humans Protest, January 2019 on Samos island.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gemma Bird.</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>NGO workers have confirmed to us that they have supported refugees through the asylum process for up to 18 months. People have to wait for a response from the <a href="http://asylo.gov.gr/en/?page_id=46">Greek Asylum Service</a> to their asylum claim – without which they can’t leave the island. Some have had meetings scheduled and then cancelled with little warning or justification. </p>
<p>The logic of the asylum process, of who is and is not vulnerable, who will and will not be transferred and why, is hard for people to comprehend. Then, when travel off the island is permitted, our interviewees have told us of people who have been moved to the mainland and housed in isolated areas with limited connections to support networks. </p>
<h2>Endless queues</h2>
<p>Life on the island is one queue after another. Everyone has access to three meals a day, if they choose. They must queue for the food, sometimes for up to five hours for each meal. Unaccompanied minors are exempt from this as their meals are provided first. But, in our research interviews, we’ve been told that minors have been injured during this process leading one local NGO, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/stilliriseNGO/">Still I Rise</a>, to offer breakfast and lunch to the children who attend their school. </p>
<p>We’ve also been told by our interviewees of the poor variety of food, with one person suggesting dinner is always potatoes. As a result, there is a lot of untouched food littering the “jungle” outside the camp, leading to further risks of rats and disease. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/254797/original/file-20190121-100270-2nqd15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=237&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/254797/original/file-20190121-100270-2nqd15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=800&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254797/original/file-20190121-100270-2nqd15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=800&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254797/original/file-20190121-100270-2nqd15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=800&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254797/original/file-20190121-100270-2nqd15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=1005&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254797/original/file-20190121-100270-2nqd15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=1005&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254797/original/file-20190121-100270-2nqd15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=1005&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Uncollected rubbish at Vathy Reception Centre on Samos, including leftover food and water bottles used as toilets.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gemma Bird</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>People also have to queue to use the showers and the bathrooms. And queue again to have an asylum meeting, or get onto a waiting list for legal guidance, or on the waiting list for children’s classes, or to access laundry facilities. </p>
<p>Not only could the international community do more to improve the procedures governing asylum and transfer, more also needs to be done to improve the conditions and safety of the reception centre itself, or find an alternative with indoor space, electricity and protection from the elements. The current conditions in “the jungle” are dangerous, and our interviewees have told us of experiences of gender-based violence. Our interviews revealed how they rely on plastic bottles as an alternative to the toilets, which are not only broken, but are dangerous for women and children, especially after dark. </p>
<p>To respond to these conditions, more conversations are needed between the reception centre and the third party organisations supporting refugees. Greater transparency on behalf of the Greek authorities would enable international organisations such as Médecins Sans Frontières to provide much needed support to the population within the reception centres, not only on Samos but in each of the four other refugee hot spots on Lesvos, Chios, Kos and Chiros. </p>
<p>In Moria, on Lesvos, the largest reception centre in the Aegean islands, a man was <a href="http://www.ekathimerini.com/236332/article/ekathimerini/news/migrant-found-dead-in-moria-camp">reportedly found dead</a>. An urgent response is needed both there and on Samos before more tragedy strikes the Aegean islands and more <a href="https://www.amna.gr/en/article/323142/Greek-authorities-awaiting-coroners-report-on-asylum-seekers-death-in-Moria--Migration-Min-says?fbclid=IwAR0qZ1112EofvcvtyKcpG9pXRyptX0fBkMlHI3qh3kl50tV4U5j-f990vqQ">families and communities mourn their losses</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/110116/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gemma Bird has in the past volunteered for Samos Volunteers. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amanda Russell Beattie has, in the past, volunteered for Samos Volunteers.</span></em></p>A refugee reception centre on the Aegan island of Samos is overwhelmed, leaving people in desperate conditions.Gemma Bird, Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, University of LiverpoolAmanda Russell Beattie, Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, Fellow The Aston Centre for Europe, Aston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1069922019-01-18T03:40:15Z2019-01-18T03:40:15ZRefuge City, a new kind of city for our times<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251446/original/file-20181219-27764-yq366f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A visualisation of a Refuge City street scene.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Richard Weller/Julian Bolleter</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia is <a href="https://mckellinstitute.org.au/research/articles/why-australia-is-the-worlds-most-successful-multicultural-society/">one of the most successful multicultural societies in the world</a>. Nonetheless, in recent times many Australians have come to regard population growth, and particularly immigration, as a problem – at best – to be solved. In contrast, we believe population growth and migration present a creative opportunity to shape new Australian cities unlike any we have built to date.</p>
<p>In a globalised economy where technology has prevailed over geography, Australians are natural global citizens. However, all is not well in multicultural Australia. Recent and credible <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/apr/24/australians-growing-more-concerned-over-immigration-guardian-essential-poll">polling</a> indicates that 64% of Australians think the level of immigration over the past decade has been too high – up from 50% in 2016.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/australians-think-immigration-should-be-cut-well-it-depends-on-how-you-ask-108053">Australians think immigration should be cut? Well, it depends on how you ask</a>
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<p>We believe such opinions (in part) stem from entrenched migration patterns. Currently <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/immigration/90pc-of-migrants-settling-in-two-cities/news-story/8746797d36bf40f41587d267e8dcdbc4">90% of new arrivals settle in Sydney or Melbourne</a> where they <a href="http://apo.org.au/node/187861">compound housing affordability</a> and congestion issues, among others. Migrants from overseas are the <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/3218.0Feature%20Article12016-17?opendocument&amp;tabname=Summary&amp;prodno=3218.0&amp;issue=2016-17&amp;num=&amp;view=">main contributors to both cities’ populations growing</a> by over 100,000 people each year.</p>
<p>In response to these issues, the Morrison government is <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/cities-fix-pms-plan-to-send-migrants-to-regions-for-five-years/news-story/c8573e68a1438295818d5aab9de5471b">considering a plan</a> requiring some new migrants, including refugees, to settle for up to five years in regional areas. </p>
<p>However, there are limits to this approach. <a href="https://www.aec.gov.au/Elections/federal_elections/2016/files/2016-aec-results-map.pdf">Voting patterns</a> indicate Australians in regional Australia are also often <a href="http://tapri.org.au/?p=529">resistant to increased migration</a>. Moreover, the mechanisation and automation of farming mean that jobs are often scarce.</p>
<h2>So what can Australia do?</h2>
<p>Australia will need more drastic solutions over the longer term. Refugees now number over <a href="http://www.unhcr.org/en-au/figures-at-a-glance.html">25 million people</a> worldwide. Due to climate change alone a <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/dev.2011.60">deluge of refugees is predicted by 2050, particularly in Asia</a> – 144 million in China, 63 million in India and 62 million in Bangladesh. </p>
<p>In the face of this, demographer <a href="https://www.hardiegrant.com/au/publishing/bookfinder/book/the-big-tilt-by-bernard-salt/9781740668880">Bernard Salt asks</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>What does Australia do? Board and turn back every boat? Leave the refugees without support on the Kimberley coast? Plan to help as many as we can and then hope we can ship back tens of thousands of people?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Clearly, Australia will need a plan to deal with this situation, particularly given the panic over the <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1617/Quick_Guides/BoatTurnbacks">arrival of small numbers of “boat people”</a> and the Coalition government <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/cities-fix-pms-plan-to-send-migrants-to-regions-for-five-years/news-story/c8573e68a1438295818d5aab9de5471b">reducing immigration to the lowest level in more than a decade</a>. We could bemoan a lack of support for increased immigration in Australia, or instead bear this resistance in mind and try to find a creative (part) solution.</p>
<p>This is where our Refuge City model is potentially instructive. As <a href="https://oldblog.robwiblin.com/2009/10/17/how-possible-is-a-charter-city-of-refugees-in-australia/">Robert Wiblin has urged in the past</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If Australians are not so enthusiastic about sharing their good luck with refugees [and migrants], a <a href="https://www.caymanfinancialreview.com/2012/10/12/charter-cities-the-future-trade-centres-of-the-world/">charter city</a> administered by Australia will at least allow them access to the governmental and legal institutions which have served Australia so well.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In line with this sentiment, we have designed an urban model for a bustling, multicultural and entrepreneurial metropolis located on Australia’s northern coast which would run under its own charter. Such a city would provide refuge and opportunity for many migrants, above and beyond what Australia already <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/research-and-statistics/statistics/visa-statistics/live/humanitarian-program">accepts through its humanitarian migration program</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/248233/original/file-20181201-194925-m0i5mu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/248233/original/file-20181201-194925-m0i5mu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/248233/original/file-20181201-194925-m0i5mu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=512&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248233/original/file-20181201-194925-m0i5mu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=512&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248233/original/file-20181201-194925-m0i5mu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=512&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248233/original/file-20181201-194925-m0i5mu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=644&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248233/original/file-20181201-194925-m0i5mu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=644&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248233/original/file-20181201-194925-m0i5mu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=644&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An indicative plan for Refuge City.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">'Future Making' students and staff, University of Western Australia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/new-cities-its-an-idea-worth-thinking-about-for-australia-92990">New cities? It's an idea worth thinking about for Australia</a>
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<h2>A city of cities on the north coast</h2>
<p>Why the northern coast? We selected this area because it has many advantages, such as proximity to rapidly growing Indonesia, availability of mineral and energy resources, and – in the case of the Northern Territory – <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-27/why-isnt-the-northern-territory-a-state-curious-darwin/9457776">Commonwealth control</a> of land. This is important because it gives the federal government full legislative power to create a charter city unconstrained by opposition from the states.</p>
<p>Refuge City would comprise dense, car-phobic and adaptable urban neighbourhoods (of up to 32,000 people) based partly on migrant ethnicities – forming a city of cities, rather than a monolithic mass of urbanism.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/248211/original/file-20181201-194944-vwutfs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/248211/original/file-20181201-194944-vwutfs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/248211/original/file-20181201-194944-vwutfs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248211/original/file-20181201-194944-vwutfs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248211/original/file-20181201-194944-vwutfs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248211/original/file-20181201-194944-vwutfs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248211/original/file-20181201-194944-vwutfs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248211/original/file-20181201-194944-vwutfs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A city of cities: a model of the proposed Refuge City.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">'Future Making' students and staff, University of Western Australia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As required, this form would enable different cultural groups to <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Cities-Zero-Andraos/dp/1902902602">follow many of their own cultural practices</a> and develop a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01944369708975941">measure of self sufficiency</a>. The design of these neighbourhoods would be developed with the communities and would reference – within limits – the urban traditions of the residents’ home countries so to provide a “home away from home”.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/248230/original/file-20181201-194928-y30qoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/248230/original/file-20181201-194928-y30qoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/248230/original/file-20181201-194928-y30qoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=424&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248230/original/file-20181201-194928-y30qoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=424&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248230/original/file-20181201-194928-y30qoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=424&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248230/original/file-20181201-194928-y30qoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=533&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248230/original/file-20181201-194928-y30qoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=533&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248230/original/file-20181201-194928-y30qoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=533&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A cross-section view of a Refuge City neighbourhood.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nur Mohd Rozlan</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Rather than the cultural model of the “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melting_pot">melting pot</a>” – which is under assault in many cities of the world – these urban neighbourhoods would cradle islands of relative cultural specificity yet maintain an overall cultural diversity. Natural areas, recreational open spaces and schools would provide crucial interstitial spaces between the urban islands and their respective communities. Moreover, an integrated bus system and a wide distribution of jobs would also stimulate interactions between communities. This will moderate the cultural specificity of the urban islands over time. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/248229/original/file-20181201-194953-1vljztd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/248229/original/file-20181201-194953-1vljztd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248229/original/file-20181201-194953-1vljztd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248229/original/file-20181201-194953-1vljztd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248229/original/file-20181201-194953-1vljztd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248229/original/file-20181201-194953-1vljztd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248229/original/file-20181201-194953-1vljztd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The design of each city neighbourhood will reference the urban traditions of the residents’ home countries.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">'Future Making' students and staff, University of Western Australia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Adapting the charter city model</h2>
<p>Like <a href="https://www.aurecongroup.com/thinking/thinking-papers/charter-cities-start-scratch">other charter cities such as Shenzen</a>, an independent government would govern the city, running it with respect to a specific charter. The autonomous government will incorporate an alliance of representatives from Australia’s federal and territory governments and potentially other countries within the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/xiongan-xi-jinpings-new-city-making-machine-turned-on-95442">Xiong'an, Xi Jinping's new city-making machine turned on</a>
</strong>
</em>
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<p>The <a href="http://clubtroppo.com.au/2014/10/20/a-charter-city-for-refugees/">charter’s terms, which will define the city’s operation</a>, include a much lower personal and company tax regime than elsewhere in Australia, to stimulate investment and jobs. Businesses would pay workers the Australian minimum wage but would not otherwise offer award wages or conditions. Complementing this will be a basic but liveable social security, housing, education and primary health care system.</p>
<p>On arrival, migrants would receive a <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/research-and-statistics/statistics/country-profiles/temporary-migration">temporary visa</a>. They would be able to apply for a <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/research-and-statistics/statistics/country-profiles/permanent-migration">skilled migration visa</a> if they gain marketable skills from the city’s trade schools and university campuses, or a permanent business visa if they establish a successful business (both business and education would be conducted in English). </p>
<p>Moreover the city would avoid the need for mandatory offshore detention of arrivals by boat, which the UN Human Rights Council has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/mar/02/scathing-un-migration-report-not-ideal-start-to-australias-human-rights-council-tenure">condemned as a “massive abuse”</a> of migrants. This has in turn profoundly <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/mar/02/scathing-un-migration-report-not-ideal-start-to-australias-human-rights-council-tenure">damaged Australia’s moral authority</a> globally. Despite our tarnished reputation, Australian residents would be welcome in Refuge City, whether as students attending global university hubs, starting a business, or enjoying the city’s bustling diversity while on a weekend getaway. Conversely, Refuge City residents would also be able to visit other Australian cities, and in particular Darwin. </p>
<p>Through a leasehold model, Indigenous landholders would maintain ownership of Refuge City land and gain a sustainable and substantial rental income from it. This is not unprecedented. <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/specials/curious-canberra/2016-07-04/can-people-own-land-in-the-act/7550166">Canberra embodies a similar system</a>, with all land leased to “owners” as a Crown lease. </p>
<p>Moreover, given Indigenous culture’s continuing ownership and intimate knowledge of the land, we would develop the Refuge City designs with land councils. Without such sincere engagement, traditional owners would rightly veto new city development under the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976.</p>
<p>Through our Refuge City model Australians could aid many more refugees than they would otherwise accept as fully fledged immigrants to the existing cities. In so doing, we could make Australia the world’s great 21st-century refuge.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/248231/original/file-20181201-194950-9vgwij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/248231/original/file-20181201-194950-9vgwij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/248231/original/file-20181201-194950-9vgwij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=422&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248231/original/file-20181201-194950-9vgwij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=422&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248231/original/file-20181201-194950-9vgwij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=422&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248231/original/file-20181201-194950-9vgwij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=531&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248231/original/file-20181201-194950-9vgwij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=531&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248231/original/file-20181201-194950-9vgwij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=531&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Refuge City montage.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://ozoutback.com.au/Australia/melville/slides/1976090118.html">By Julian Bolleter based on a photo by Ludo Kuipers</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<a href="http://theconversation.com/australia-a-nation-in-need-of-compassion-focused-therapy-38421">Australia, a nation in need of compassion-focused therapy</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/106992/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>By adapting the charter city model to create a new city on the northern coast, Australia could be the world’s great 21st-century refuge.Julian Bolleter, Deputy Director, Australian Urban Design Research Centre, University of Western AustraliaKen Parish, Senior Lecturer in Law, Charles Darwin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1095092019-01-09T04:12:19Z2019-01-09T04:12:19ZAre women escaping family violence overseas considered refugees?<p>Saudi teenager <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=Rahaf+Mohammed+al-Qanun&amp;source=lnms&amp;tbm=nws&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=0ahUKEwj3o_X4r9_fAhWLbbwKHbBgA7IQ_AUIDygC&amp;biw=1464&amp;bih=1224">Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun’s</a> story has travelled around the world this week, highlighting Saudi Arabia’s repressive treatment of women and that not only those who seek asylum by sea face perilous journeys to safety.</p>
<p>For now, al-Qunun remains in Thailand, and it’s been reported the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jan/09/rahaf-al-qurun-will-get-no-special-treatment-from-australia-peter-dutton-says">has deemed her to be a refugee</a>. Australia has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jan/08/rahaf-al-qunun-australia-asked-to-clarify-reports-it-has-cancelled-saudi-womans-visa">said it will consider</a> granting her asylum. </p>
<p>Reports say <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jan/07/australia-urged-to-help-saudi-teenager-barricaded-inside-thai-hotel-room">al-Qunun fears</a>, if she is returned to Saudi Arabia, she will be abused and killed by her family for renouncing Islam and asserting her independence. Sadly, al-Qunun’s fear of being harmed by those closest to her is not unique.</p>
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<p>Worldwide, an <a href="http://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women/facts-and-figures">estimated 35% of women</a> have experienced family or domestic violence. In some countries, the figure is closer to 70%. Not all those at risk will be entitled to international refugee protection, however. Only those who meet the definition of a “refugee” can make a valid claim for asylum.</p>
<p>Women fleeing family and domestic violence must deal with a unique range of legal and practical hurdles before the threat of being returned will truly have passed.</p>
<h2>Refugee protection for gendered violence</h2>
<p>The international <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/3b66c2aa10">refugee convention</a> of 1951 defines a “refugee” as a person outside their own country who fears persecution because of their race, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion. </p>
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<a href="http://theconversation.com/explainer-how-australia-decides-who-is-a-genuine-refugee-72574">Explainer: how Australia decides who is a genuine refugee</a>
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<p>This legal definition was devised in Europe in the aftermath of the second world war, primarily with the political refugee in mind. Although the convention isn’t limited to those fleeing political persecution, women fleeing gender-based violence must overcome a number of hurdles to show they meet the definition’s criteria.</p>
<p>The most fundamental requirement for refugee protection is that the applicant be outside her country of origin. This alone precludes most women from accessing international protection. The cost of travel and the danger it entails – women and girls <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/world/call-protect-women-and-girls-move">face heightened risks</a> of sexual violence, trafficking and exploitation during their journeys – make seeking asylum a dangerous endeavour. </p>
<p>For women living under repressive regimes such as in Saudi Arabia, where permission to travel is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/06/world/middleeast/saudi-thailand-rahaf-alqunun.html">required from a male guardian</a>, leaving the country may be impossible. For those who do leave, trying to prove they are at risk of persecution poses further challenges.</p>
<p>Beyond obvious physical signs of mistreatment, obtaining evidence of domestic violence is <a href="https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1301&amp;context=facpub">notoriously difficult</a>. In most refugee cases, the primary means of establishing the applicant’s claim to asylum is her testimony. Lasting effects of trauma, potentially significant cultural and language barriers, and being surrounded by often male interpreters, decision-makers and legal representatives, can make the burden of proof for such women overwhelming.</p>
<p>Moreover, the refugee definition itself was not designed with the experiences of women in mind. In cases like al-Qunun’s, failure to conform to religious expectations will likely play a role. But the tendency of refugee status decision-makers has been to see violence by family members as a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/immigration/sessions-signals-that-victims-of-domestic-abuse-and-gang-violence-generally-will-not-qualify-for-asylum/2018/06/11/45e54602-6d9e-11e8-bd50-b80389a4e569_story.html?utm_term=.1f5398608352">private matter</a>, and not attributable to one of the five grounds of persecution: race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group and political opinion.</p>
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<p>When refugee claims involving family and domestic violence succeed, it is usually on the basis women may constitute a particular social group. Accepting that women in a particular country constitute a particular social group allows refugee status decision-makers to provide protection to women who fear persecution <em>because</em> they are women. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/publications/legal/3d58ddef4/guidelines-international-protection-1-gender-related-persecution-context.html">UNHCR</a> states that women are a clear example of a social group “defined by innate and immutable characteristics, and who are frequently treated differently than men”.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/do-abused-women-need-asylum-4-essential-reads-98223">Do abused women need asylum? 4 essential reads</a>
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<p>However, the worldwide prevalence of family and domestic violence, coupled with concerns about “opening the floodgates” to women seeking asylum, have seen this approach to gender-based <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/immigration/sessions-signals-that-victims-of-domestic-abuse-and-gang-violence-generally-will-not-qualify-for-asylum/2018/06/11/45e54602-6d9e-11e8-bd50-b80389a4e569_story.html?utm_term=.dbbd276ea3e1">refugee claims rejected</a> on a regular basis.</p>
<h2>What about in Australia?</h2>
<p>The universal definition of a refugee has been incorporated into Australia’s domestic legislation – the <a href="http://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ma1958118/index.html">Migration Act</a> of 1958. In addition, Australia’s refugee status decision-makers routinely consider the claims of women at risk of family and domestic violence, trafficking, forced marriage and so-called honour killings if returned to their home country.</p>
<p>Two recent refugee decisions by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal provide insight into how Australian decision-makers approach such claims. </p>
<p>In the first, <a href="http://www6.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/cth/AATA/2015/3566.html?context=1;query=domestic%20violence;mask_path=au/cases/cth/AATA">the Tribunal held</a> the violence experienced by a Turkish woman, who had been twice hospitalised due to injuries inflicted by her husband, was personal in nature. So, it could not be attributed to one of the five grounds of persecution. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, her claim was upheld on the basis Turkish authorities failed to protect her from such violence. Because of the country’s lack of enforcement of laws protecting women and widespread social attitudes linking domestic violence with family honour, the applicant was considered a member of a particular social group – women.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www6.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/cth/AATA/2017/591.html?context=1;query=domestic%20violence;mask_path=au/cases/cth/AATA">second case</a> concerned a refugee claim by a mother of five from Papua New Guinea, who had experienced repeated attacks by her husband and his family members for refusing to accept her husband’s infidelity. The Tribunal rejected the proposition <em>women</em> from Papua New Guinea constituted a particular social group, due to their diverse ages, backgrounds, religions and economic circumstances. </p>
<p>However, it accepted the more narrowly defined groups “married women in Papua New Guinea” and “married women in Papua New Guinea for whom a bride price has been paid” as particular social groups and awarded refugee status on this basis.</p>
<p>In some countries, such as <a href="http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1996/act/17/enacted/en/print.html">Ireland</a> and <a href="https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201409/a130-980.pdf">South Africa</a>, “sex” or “gender” has been added as a potential ground of persecution in domestic legislation. This removes the need to argue whether women are a particular social group in any given society. </p>
<p>Australia has adopted a <a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/publication/complementary-protection">complementary protection regime</a>, which offers additional protections to people at risk of such harms as torture or inhumane treatment. Australia also has a specific visa for refugee <a href="https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/what-we-do/refugee-and-humanitarian-program/refugee-visas">“women-at-risk”</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/sexual-and-domestic-violence-the-hidden-reasons-why-mexican-women-flee-their-homes-65352">Sexual and domestic violence: the hidden reasons why Mexican women flee their homes</a>
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<p>Individual refugee status decision-makers have also set out alternative paths for protecting women from family and domestic violence. In a notable <a href="https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/48d8a5832.pdf">New Zealand case</a>, the decision-maker held the risk of domestic violence faced by the applicant was for reasons of her <em>political opinion</em>. They described her decision to leave her husband as an act of “self-emancipation” from the “structures of power and inequality” that had sanctioned the abusive relationship. </p>
<p>Even though the UNHCR has determined al-Qunun is a refugee, her future remains uncertain. Thailand is <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/protection/basic/3b73b0d63/states-parties-1951-convention-its-1967-protocol.html">not a party</a> to the refugee convention and <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/father-arrives-in-bangkok-to-visit-saudi-woman-seeking-asylum-in-australia">there are doubts</a> as to whether she would receive effective protection there. Resettlement in a country such as Australia is possible, but obtaining the woman-at-risk visa would be at the discretion of the government.</p>
<p>The attention on al-Qunun should at least help ensure her claim for protection gets the consideration it requires. Let’s hope it generates similar support for the countless other women in urgent need of international protection.</p>
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<p><em>This article has been updated in light of the UNHCR finding Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun to be a refugee.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/109509/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tamara Wood does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The refugee convention wasn't designed with women in mind. Women fleeing domestic violence and asking for asylum face many barriers to qualifying for protection under international law.Tamara Wood, Centre Affiliate, Andrew and Renata Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSWLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1093762019-01-08T11:43:22Z2019-01-08T11:43:22ZWhy the UK should stay within the EU's asylum system after Brexit<p>Until recent media coverage of an increase in people crossing the English Channel by boat, Brexit debates have largely overlooked the future of asylum and international protection after the UK leaves the EU on March 29. The UK’s options are challenging – and the risks for current and future asylum seekers are real and serious, particularly if the UK were to leave without a deal.</p>
<p>Complications will stem from the UK’s involvement in the EU’s international protection and asylum governance structures, known as the Common European Asylum System (CEAS). This <a href="https://www.biicl.org/documents/1531_faq_-_brexit_and_uk_refugee_law_and_policy.pdf?showdocument=1">determines</a> who qualifies as a refugee, the minimum rights of asylum seekers waiting for the result of their application and the procedures relating to seeking asylum.
The UK has so far <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/lucy-mayblin/what-will-brexit-mean-for-asylum-in-uk">opted out</a> of the directives that regulate higher common standards for asylum procedures so it can keep only minimum standards. </p>
<p>CEAS also oversees implementation of the <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/asylum/examination-of-applicants_en">Dublin regulations</a>, governing which member state should be responsible for processing an asylum claim. The current rules mean that member states can return asylum seekers to the member state where they first entered the EU. <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/asylum/identification-of-applicants_en">Eurodac</a>, an EU-wide database of fingerprints of asylum seekers, is key in determining the country of first entry of asylum seekers. </p>
<p>Although there has been opposition from member states such as Italy, Hungary, and Greece on the EU’s external borders, others, including the UK, have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/20/uk-to-lobby-european-commission-over-plans-to-scrap-dublin-resolution">supported the system</a>. This is because it has allowed them to return asylum seekers to the EU country where they first sought asylum. </p>
<p>Should the UK leave the EU without a deal, its rule-making power in CEAS would end. It will be out of the Dublin regulations, will lose the right to return asylum seekers to other EU member states and will have no access to Eurodac. This means a consequence of a no-deal Brexit might be an increase in number of irregular arrivals as the UK will be unable to return them to another EU member state. </p>
<p>Should the UK leave the EU with a Brexit deal and a transition period in place, this could protect the status quo for a short period, providing an opportunity to negotiate a new system without generating a legal vacuum. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/brexit-transition-what-will-and-wont-change-for-britons-after-march-2019-107558">Brexit transition: what will and won't change for Britons after March 2019</a>
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<h2>Options for the future</h2>
<p>There are three routes available for the UK, and none of them are without hurdles. The first is to negotiate bilateral arrangements with individual EU states, including France, in the case of a no-deal scenario. However, since asylum governance is highly harmonised in the EU, despite political differences, it’s unlikely that member states and EU institutions will agree to this.</p>
<p>Second, regardless of the deal with the EU, the UK can pursue bilateral agreements with non-EU countries such as Turkey, Egypt, Libya, Senegal, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Currently, the UK benefits from the arrangements the EU has with such countries such as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/refugees-out-of-sight-out-of-mind-two-years-on-from-eu-turkey-deal-93451">EU-Turkey deal</a>. Such negotiations will not only take the UK time, but any agreements will not necessarily prevent irregular crossings from Europe. </p>
<p>In the meantime, the UK might deploy more naval ships in the Channel, although even a small operation has recently caused a <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/sajid-javid-and-jeremy-hunts-positioning-for-tory-leadership-backfires-spectacularly-11597150">disagreement within the cabinet</a> regarding its finances. However, as shown in the <a href="https://civilsocietyfutures.org/push-back-violence-frontex/">Mediterranean</a>, highly expensive military operations hardly stop boat crossings, but divert the boats to less monitored but more dangerous areas of the sea. </p>
<p>The third option would be to negotiate a version of the arrangements Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein have with the EU during a transition period. These non-EU countries are members of the Dublin system, which requires them to be part of the Schengen free movement area too. But they don’t have the right to participate in negotiations of new EU rules and must make significant financial contributions to the Schengen and Dublin system. In other words, they accept to be “rule takers” in exchange for comprehensive economic relations and an asylum system integrated with the EU so they can take part in burden-sharing arrangements.</p>
<h2>Protecting the most vulnerable</h2>
<p>Through Brexit, the UK is voluntarily withdrawing from the rule-making position it held within CEAS without replacing it. As a <a href="https://www.ein.org.uk/news/european-parliament-publishes-comprehensive-new-study-what-brexit-will-mean-asylum-and">recent study</a> published by the European Parliament warned, there is no time to formulate and agree a new asylum mechanism before the end of March 2019. The difficulty ahead for the UK is that, because of its geographical position and the fact that many asylum seekers will transit EU member states before arriving in the UK, it must engage with the EU. </p>
<p>The UK should find a way to be part of CEAS so that it isn’t considered by the EU as a third country outside the EU’s asylum governance structures. To do this, it needs to leave the EU with a deal and negotiate a version of staying within the EU’s existing asylum framework beyond any transition period. This might be the only realistic way to protect the existing rights and entitlements of asylum seekers in the UK.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/109376/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ali Bilgic is Prince Claus Chair 2017-19 in ‘Migration and Human Security’ at International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam. </span></em></p>Because of its geography, the UK must put an end to uncertainty over asylum policy after Brexit.Ali Bilgic, Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, Loughborough UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1082212018-12-19T11:41:04Z2018-12-19T11:41:04ZInformal networks of generosity are supporting asylum seekers on both sides of the border<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251001/original/file-20181217-185246-1vq27f5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Central American migrants playing soccer at a temporary shelter in Tijuana.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Central-America-Migrant-Caravan/2b8b118a8d4c460c99bef8873f38e51a/4/0">AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When a woman I’ll call Elisa and her 15-year-old daughter, Ana, journeyed from their home in Honduras to Tijuana, Mexico, they survived due to the generosity of a friend who gave them bus tickets, strangers they met aboard the bus headed north and a temporary Mexican humanitarian visa. </p>
<p>Once they arrived, they stayed in a shelter at a local church whose congregation provided food, toiletries and free health care. Elisa also helped others, by cooking, cleaning the shelter’s common areas and caring for another sick resident.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.sagamoreinstitute.org/leadership/topic/team-our-staff">nonprofit leader</a>, I have built partnerships between U.S. charitable groups and those in Spanish-speaking communities. Now I’m conducting research on how immigrants rely heavily on informal and voluntary support on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. Whether migrants <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-challenge-of-parenting-in-a-migrant-caravan-107875">arrive in large groups</a> or on their own, I believe this largely unseen generosity is keeping many of them <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/604279">from going hungry and homeless</a> and enhancing their <a href="https://theconversation.com/migrants-travel-in-groups-for-a-simple-reason-safety-105621">personal safety</a> in precarious conditions. </p>
<p>This informal giving supplements the insufficient aid available through more official channels.</p>
<h2>No official safety net</h2>
<p>Asylum seekers may not earn a living in the U.S. or even <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/refugees-asylum/asylum">apply for permission to work</a> while they <a href="https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/migrant-caravan/sd-me-asylum-waitlist-metering-20181206-story.html">wait for their claims to be considered</a>.</p>
<p>They are also <a href="https://www.humanrightsfirst.org/asylum/frequently-asked-questions-asylum-seekers">ineligible for safety net programs</a> like the <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-fdrs-food-stamps-to-trumps-harvest-boxes-the-history-of-helping-the-poor-get-enough-to-eat-91813">Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/poor-and-homeless-face-discrimination-under-americas-flawed-housing-voucher-system-52480">housing vouchers</a> that would help them get food and shelter.</p>
<p>That means the <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/outreach/asylum-division-quarterly-stakeholder-meeting-13">approximately 319,000</a> people with <a href="https://www.amnesty.org.au/refugee-and-an-asylum-seeker-difference/">pending asylum cases</a> are left to fend for themselves after they enter the U.S. if they are not being detained in federal facilities or <a href="https://theconversation.com/detained-immigrant-children-stay-in-shelters-that-are-already-full-and-arent-equipped-for-babies-97774">government-funded shelters</a>. They also get either scant support or no help at all from the Mexican government before they enter the U.S. – although with a humanitarian visa, they can apply to <a href="https://www.gob.mx/tramites/ficha/cambio-de-visitante-por-razones-humanitarias-a-residente-temporal/INM826">work temporarily</a>.</p>
<p>So how do they survive?</p>
<p>In Tijuana they can stay in places like the <a href="https://fox5sandiego.com/2018/11/27/sports-complex-housing-migrants-in-tijuana-is-at-least-3-times-above-capacity/">Benito Juarez Sports Complex</a>.</p>
<p>Others get luckier and find beds in shelters, such as <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Iglesia-Bautista-Cristiana-Camino-De-Salvaci%C3%B3n/1925711404377443">Camino de Salvación</a>, where about 45 Central American migrants can stay at a time. In the U.S., there are some shelters as well, such as those run by groups like <a href="https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/immigration/sd-me-migrant-family-shelter-20181119-story.html">Jewish Family Services</a> in San Diego and <a href="http://www.casamarianella.org/">Casa Marianella</a> in Austin, Texas.</p>
<p>A patchwork of immigrant-serving organizations, primarily U.S.-based, received <a href="https://foundationcenter.org">US$516 million in 2017 and 2018</a> from private sources, according to the Foundation Center – a nonprofit that gathers and analyzes philanthropy data. Some 2,075 grantmakers distributed these funds to 2,664 organizations.</p>
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<h2>A new wave</h2>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/central-american-migrant-caravan-begins-crossing-us-border-5-essential-reads-95824">Central Americans</a> have sought asylum in the U.S. for decades.</p>
<p>A prior wave, which included millions of people from <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-us-policy-in-honduras-set-the-stage-for-todays-migration-65935">Honduras</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/archbishop-oscar-romero-was-gunned-down-inside-his-own-church-38-years-ago-soon-hell-become-el-salvadors-first-saint-93331">El Salvador</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/bloody-uprising-in-nicaragua-could-trigger-the-next-central-american-refugee-crisis-99924">Nicaragua</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/guatemalas-history-of-genocide-hurts-mayan-communities-to-this-day-97796">Guatemala</a> who were fleeing violence, began in the 1980s. It began to <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/Refugees_Asylees_2016.pdf">recede after 1990</a>, when 122,000 refugees arrived from across the world.</p>
<p>By 2016, the number of annual asylum seekers had risen again to 86,000. The U.S. granted <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/2016%20Yearbook%20of%20Immigration%20Statistics.pdf">20,455 of their asylum claims</a> that year, including <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/Refugees_Asylees_2016.pdf">6,530</a> from <a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/central-americas-violent-northern-triangle">Central America</a> and Mexico. </p>
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<p>Groups in Mexico and the U.S. have responded to this wave of asylum-seeking in a variety of ways. Some have created <a href="https://www.citylab.com/equity/2018/12/tijuana-migrant-caravan-asylum-border-trump/577396/">new and larger shelters</a>. Others have established an informal <a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2017/02/23/new-underground-railroad-undocumented-immigrations-kyung-lead.cnn">network of individual homes</a> where asylum-seekers may stay. It serves as a modern-day underground railroad.</p>
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<h2>Filling gaps</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.tamupress.com/search-results/?keyword=Migration-Trust-Networks">These informal networks</a> exist far from the political spotlight and often don’t involve any money changing hands. They are even outside the constellation of <a href="https://www.immigrationadvocates.org/">immigration nonprofits and advocacy groups</a>.</p>
<p>In many cases, I have seen migrants themselves give what they can to others in the same predicament. That may sound surprising, but research supports a tendency I’ve personally observed: Low-income people can be quite charitable despite their circumstances.</p>
<p>For example, the global philanthropy scholar <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-007-9049-1">Pamala Wiepking</a> has found that the poor give away a larger share of their income than the rich. </p>
<p>Once they become more established, immigrants keep expressing their concern for others through the donations they give directly, such as by <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/pf.108">wiring their own money abroad to loved ones</a> who stayed behind, or by supporting a cause without giving money to nonprofits involved in it.</p>
<p>The migrants I observed and interviewed shared meals. They helped one another find rides and navigate the bus system, look for work, and care for children and the sick. In a place like Camino de Salvación, where everyone is enduring high levels of stress and most have personally experienced trauma, simply engaging in conversation and offering moral support can serve as valuable gifts. </p>
<p>Taken together, these different sources of support, both formal and informal, are giving some of the thousands of Central American migrants who head north a little breathing room.</p>
<p>When I visited the Camino de Salvación shelter, Ana, the teen, wasn’t eager to talk to strangers about her experience. Elisa told me she barely left her room and avoided any conversation about the troublesome days in Honduras before they left.</p>
<p>Elisa spent the days preparing meals, not just for herself and her daughter but also for the other people staying at the shelter, as well as learning about the U.S. <a href="https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/how-prepare-affirmative-asylum-application.html">asylum application process</a>.</p>
<p>“Maybe I should have stayed,” Elisa told me. “But in my case what mattered most was life – especially that of my daughter.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/108221/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jamie Lynn Goodwin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>This help is often given in kind rather than in dollars and cents. Without it, these migrants might have nowhere to go and nothing to eat.Jamie Lynn Goodwin, PhD Candidate, IUPUILicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.